Interview: Valgeir Sigurðsson Tries To Find A Minute In The Day

The great and the good of Iceland's Bedroom Community label roll into town this weekend to complete some volcano-delayed business with Ben Frost, Nico Muhly, Sam Amidon and Valgeir Sigurðsson set to round off the now third incarnation of their much-lauded Whale Watching Tour. Ahead of dates in Dublin (tonight - win tickets below) and London (tomorrow, Mon Sept 27), we spoke to label boss Valgeir, first concerning his own solo work, but later about the rather wonderful label the collective run.
 
You released your first solo work in quite some time earlier this year, entitled Draumalandið, if I'm pronouncing it correctly (listening back it seemed to go Dre-mel-dio...)

That's very good, yes!

It was written for a documentary and I wondered how did the process begin? Did the writers/directors approach you, or at what stage did you get involved?

They did, in the early editing stage, and I was working with them while they were doing the editing, discussing the general idea and direction of the music. They pretty much just left me alone after that for a few weeks to work and come up with ideas. They came to the studio, had a look and listen and had a few suggestions but just left me carry on basically. They just wanted me to tell the story how I felt it should be told. 

The film concerns the exploitation of Iceland's natural resources - was that something you were acutely aware of?

Yeah, this book the film was based on had been around and had got a lot of attention. There had been a lot of discussions about this before the dam was built, so everyone is aware of it and there are different opinions of course.

Compared to your first solo record, this certainly feels like a heavier sound. Was that as a result of the subject matter?

Yeah, I guess so... I think it calls for a darker mood. The music is the dramatic narrator of the film sometimes, and there is an underlying sadness leading up to the building of the dam and telling the history before that, 100 years back or so. I think that dictated the music in a way.

Has the difficult economic climate in Iceland added to that kind of tone? Of course, we're not immune to such problems in Ireland - or, indeed, beyond - but has the changing atmosphere in the past two to three years affected the music you make?

I don't think so, I wouldn't say that directly. I certainly don't think there has been a negative effect on music in the country. No, not in a negative way at least. If anything, it helps people be more creative. 

I know you've been extremely busy in the meantime, but having gone four years since recording your last solo record were you itching to do something under your own name again?

Although strictly it wasn't a solo album, it was good to get the opportunity to do that. I am working on a solo album now too though, and I'm hoping that will be ready by next year. 

Looking back over the production work you've done down through the years - it reads like a neat who's-who of interesting music - when and how did you first get together with Bjork?

It was through some mutual friends and, you know, things begin and then they develop into something you never planned. It just worked out really well. 

What was the initial thrust behind getting together with Nico and Ben to start the Bedroom Community?

When I met them, I was more thinking of writing my own music and putting more focus into that after years and years of working with Bjork and other people. It was time to put myself back into the foreground a little bit and when I met Ben and Nico, it seemed like the perfect group of people to work with, and I wanted their work to be heard too and wanted to be involved in what they were doing. It just made sense that we would form some structure around that, because I couldn't really think of a label that would be able to channel these different ideas. So we started really small: we made Ben and Nico's albums and then thought about how we could go about putting them out. I came up with the name, we found distribution and suddenly it was some kind of an operation that had taken on its own life.

Was there an initial ethos behind the label? Is it all in the name, that it's a community more than anything else?

The idea basically was to take those musical ideas we had all the way, because we already had the facility to make the music... we had the studio and things that labels don't usually really have access too. We wanted to base it around a small group of people and not go out looking for bands to sign. The musical ideas were already there and we have expanded only to include people we have known or music that we wanted to work on as a group, or if we agreed on the aesthetic behind it. Like, we brought Sam Amidon in; again, he's very different, but me and Nico wanted to work with him together.
 
It's been growing in profile - as have the artists - how many now work for the label?

There's quite a few people involved right now doing quite a few things. We keep it in the family as regards running the studio, and I actually don't know how many other people there are! It's still a very small company though.

Is it hard to balance everything? Between the label, writing a score, working on a solo record and all the production and engineering work, do you get many minutes in the day to yourself?

(Laughs) It's tricky... I try! It's a lot of work, obviously, running the label alongside working in the studio. I'm slowly trying to find ways to make it more normal, but it's still a passion and you're thinking about it all the time. It's the same with the music: there can be ten different things going on at once, but somehow it works out once you have good people around you.
 
Obviously you're all hitting the road again on the Whale Watching Tour. How exactly is it going to work? Are you going to be playing with each other or...?

It's just one big band basically; we're all going to be playing with each other for about 90 minutes, going between everyone's music but we have been trying to build it so it is coherent. Making it a journey that makes sense. While we jump from one thing to another, there is a thread that runs through it. It's been a lot of fun trying to showcase everyone's individuality at the same time as showing the collaboration that happens between us. I think it makes people really understand how this label works

What's next for the label?

We've gone from doing one or two albums a year to four or five, so I hope it doesn't get out of hand! We're going to just try and keep it small and keep the integrity of our label.

We have a pair of last-minute tickets to give away for tonight's Dublin date at The National Concert Hall. Email info@raggedwords.com quick-smart to be in with a chance of winning them!