Thursday, March 30, 2017

Interview: Dynfari, Icelandic Black Metal

Dynfari
In the not too distant past while sitting in the Glacially Musical Kyushu Prefecture Headquarters, Corridor 3, 14th floor, Room 15, an album was suggested to me by an Icelandic Black Metal band called Dynfari.

Being a somewhat newly minted Black Metal fan, it was worth checking out and it was spectacular. Certainly it this album merited getting to know the artist a little bit better.

What follows is the conversation we had. He noticed it was strange, and he was right.

Glacially Musical: Thank you for taking some time for me today.

Dynfari: You're welcome.

GM: Let's start at the beginning. How did the earth form?

DF: In a collision that also formed our entire solar system, where gravity then pulled dust and gas particles together to form asteroids that later developed into planets. Loosely speaking.

GM: Where did you learn to write a song?

DF: I've never had any formal musical education, so my study of composition has mostly been through trial and error, exploring and trying things out for myself.

GM: Which version of Who Do You Love was better, George Thorogood or The Doors? Tell me why.

DF: The Doors. It's way more appealing and classic sounding.

GM:  Absolutely right! Pick one of the tracks on your record and tell me the story that inspired it.

DF: "4th Door: Death" is the last track of the album and the way longest, clocking at around 14 minutes.

It is the only song on the album that was composed entirely in a jam session at our rehearsal space, and the only one where we actually own a demo recording from that original session.

Not to say that of course the song evolved considerably from its original form. We were at something of a crossroads at that particular moment and that song channeled through us very naturally.

Although first holding the working title "Geislun" ("Radiation") and being completely instrumental, we later attributed the meaning of Patrick Rothfuss' 4th door of the mind to it - the final resort the mind has to deal with pain.

The song initially identifies death is something eerie or even scary, but it is then accepted and welcomed as something beautiful and inevitable. There is nothing to fear in a state of bliss and peace.

This attribution made sense to us personally in relation to the idea of acceptance of one's fate and finding calmness through it.

GM: Is it worthwhile to spend $8 on a fancy hot dog?

DF: Definitely. It has to be real fancy though.

GM: Around most of the world right now, there's been a strange political shift. How is this affecting Iceland?

DF: I guess an interesting phenomenon worth mentioning is the Icelandic Pirate Party, which polled at over 40% for a time here, but then received 15% of the total vote in the parliamentary elections last year. We've also had our share of populism, differently well concealed fascism and misuse of power.

GM: Should we be expecting you on this side of Greenland any time soon on tour?

DF: We'd love to return to North America on tour one day. I hope circumstances allow soon enough. Artist visas to the US will always be a hurdle though.

GM: What are the five most important albums of all time?

DF: In my personal opinion, from the top of my head right now, and in no specific order: Autopsy - Severed Survival, Black Sabbath - Paranoid, Death - Scream Bloody Gore, Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, Slowdive - Souvlaki

GM: There's something you probably wanted to mention that I didn't ask about. Tell me about that.

DF: These were some weird questions - thanks. Keep an eye out for our new album "The Four Doors of the Mind", out in April on Aural Music.

Dynfari's new album drops on April 14, 2017 via Code666. PREORDER IT HERE.

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