Dymbrá: All in the eyes…
I belong to a Facebook fan-group entitled ‘Warriors and Weirdos’. No, it’s not about Dungeons and Dragons, this page is dedicated to Norwegian artist Aurora, who is something of A Different Kind Of Human. It turns out that Aurora’s fanbase is full of talented people, and it isn’t unusual to see fans posting their own music or art there for all to see. Most of it is great, and some of it is excellent. One day while surfing the waves of excellence, I came across Dymbrá and their self-titled EP captured my imagination.
From left to right - Nína Solveig Andersen, Eir Ólafsdóttir and Eyrún Úa Þorbjörnsdóttir. Image Credit: Gunnar Björn Gunnarsson
Dymbrá are a trio that hail from Iceland who came together as a group of classical musicians during their time in school. To break it down simply, Nína Solveig Andersen is on violin, Eir Ólafsdóttir plays cello, and Eyrún Úa Þorbjörnsdóttir is on flute. But when you listen to the band’s debut EP (which was entirely written and recorded by the trio), you’ll notice other instruments creeping in beyond their individual staples.
From left to right - Eyrún Úa Þorbjörnsdóttir, Eir Ólafsdóttir and Nína Solveig Andersen. Image Credit: Anna Sveinsdóttir
Due to Eir living in Spain for two years, the music on this EP was written and left unrecorded for some time, but the band are back together now and have continued to write new music, even performing together in the more pandemic-safe Reykjavík. This included their EP release show at the National Gallery back in June (pictured above). I can only imagine what a Dymbrá live performance is like, though luckily we don’t have to imagine what their EP sounds like.
The opening track, ‘Sólbrá’, begins with atmospheric keyboard sounds, a glockenspiel, and gentle harmonised vocals. Flute cuts clear through the smoke, with violin joining shortly afterwards, travelling across the stereo image from left to right. Piano makes a surprise appearance, though the tone is not typical of what you’d expect, almost like there’s the wooden ambience of xylophone added. Perhaps it’s a digital render? Though it doesn’t feel out of place with the natural instruments Dymbrá play. And yes, cello joins the music towards the end, with flute backing it up. As far as the title meaning goes, Eyrún has previously explained that Sólbrá means ‘bright eyes’. Most of the titles on this EP have something to do with eyes, including the band’s name itself, which Eir once explained as perhaps meaning ‘a deep sound coming from the eyes’.
‘Dulbrá’ feels darker, more mysterious – like the listener is stepping into a murder scene of which the killer fled moments earlier. In keeping with this, Dulbrá translates to ‘mysterious eyes’, I wonder what they see? I love Eyrún’s melody on flute, which is sung over by the group. I’ve missed bands experimenting with a stereo image in their work. In the current listening climate, mix engineers and their instructors are focused on creating a satisfying stereo mix that does little to challenge the listener, perhaps a product of sound being increasingly reproduced in earphones in noisy environments. Here, Dymbrá, who mixed the record themselves, create not only a pleasant musical mix, but an experimental one where instruments don’t stay in one place. You get the sense that the band are drifting around you like a dream.
‘Tíbrá’ is the only song on the EP not to have been named after the eyes, but rather it translates to ‘fata morgana’, the mirage seen on the horizon in vast water. Tíbrá begins with piano, and this time the deep kind that only a real piano would produce, where the listener can feel the keys, the hammers, and the vibrations through the wood. The deep rumble of cello is almost like a mythical sea creature heaving itself up and breaking the surface of the water it lives in. There is flute, and perhaps more glockenspiel, though there’s a peek from behind the curtain of an atmospheric keyboard that I love. The artwork for this EP by Einar Andersen is like a landscape that lies beyond torn wallpaper from a bedroom, a glimpse into another dimension.
The penultimate track on the EP is ‘Kolbrá (Koparbláir mánar)’, and reminds me of a filmic soundscape. It’s refreshing to hear a drum rhythm, while flute takes the lead. There is a gentle vocal building up to multiple lead vocal parts, panned hard left and right – neither steps on the other’s toes. Part of the rhythm sounds like a strummed guitar, I wonder if this is instead cello. Indeed, this is the first track where I wonder how it would be performed live in the trio without additional musicians. An exciting prospect. As far as the meaning of the title goes, Kolbrá means ‘dark eyes’, while the bracketed ‘Koparbláir mánar’ translated to ‘copper blue moons’, according to Google Translate.
Eyrún has explained that ‘Lokbrá’ closes the EP as the title translates to ‘closed eyes’. I believe this is one of the tracks where the band uses a bottle as a wind instrument, the subtle in-take of breath between notes adds the human element that is often absent when these kind of effects are synthesised. Finger-clicks keep the rhythm with vocal flourishes and a touch of violin. Lokbrá in particular contains a myriad of sounds, effortlessly striding from one instrument to the next in a unique display that is both exciting and keeps you guessing.
This is a band with any number of possible futures. Dymbrá could be opening for Björk or Aurora in a post-pandemic world or play their own headline performances in unusual spaces. The band could become composers for film, not to mention their own music could artistically go in any direction. The classical approach could be broadened with orchestral and choir influences in a more conventional manner, but I don’t think Dymbrá were built for conventions. Their music could become vastly lyrical, or entirely instrumental. The trio could up the ante on their experimental side with less traditional instruments, or dive head-first into electronica. One thing is for certain, Dymbrá’s self-titled EP is a tantalising glimpse at what will come next for this band, whichever exciting musical avenue they decide to take. Personally, I can’t wait.
From left to right - Eir Ólafsdóttir, Eyrún Úa Þorbjörnsdóttir and Nína Solveig Andersen. Image Credit: Gunnar Björn Gunnarsson
1. For your self-titled release, you elected to keep lyrics in the songs to a minimum. Would you consider taking a more lyrical approach in future?
Eir: Maybe, I guess we’ll see. For this release we decided that the lyrics and the singing would not be in the forefront, and I think we will keep it that way, in the nearest future at least, but we might experiment with some lyrics without necessarily making it the centre of the piece.
2. Were there many discussions on how to sequence these tracks between the three of you? Or was it clear how it would be from the very beginning?
Eir: We took quite some time to decide in which order the songs should be, I had gotten very used to the order we played them in concerts, but it ended up being very different.
Eyrún: Yes, I think we all had quite different ideas about the order in the beginning but when it came to finally deciding it came quite naturally. One song leads to another and we all agreed on the flow between them.
3. The sound on the EP is pretty polished! Was your EP recorded at home and self-produced?
Eir: The EP was recorded in a studio, but we did all the work ourselves and a lot of our time in the studio went into figuring out how to produce and stuff. Nína had learned some production and technical stuff. She mixed the EP and did most of the recording. In the end Frosti Jónsson did the mastering.
4. Though each of you plays cello, flute and violin, who plays the keyboard instruments?
Nína: I play the keyboard (piano and synths). I am self taught on the keyboard, and therefore not super talented, but I can play my own songs and some easy songs. I really like playing the keyboard because it is a lot different from the violin. I have more freedom playing chords and like changing sounds and experimenting with interesting synths and organs.
5. Are the vocals all split equally between you?
Eir: I sing most in this EP, as I had the most lead singing experience when we composed the songs. I am the singer in another band. Eyrún and Nína do their share of singing as well, though, we are all in choir together, and both Nína and I have taken singing lessons outside of that, so all of us have a good singing experience.
6. Einar Andersen created the artwork around this EP, what direction did you give him?
Nína: We gave Einar a lot of artistic freedom making the artwork. We had an idea about the atmosphere we wanted, which was a bit dark, mysterious and surrealistic. We also had a photo of some cool snow we saw on a band trip earlier this year, which is the photo in the middle of the artwork. He combined these ideas into this masterpiece.
7. Nína, if there was one artist you really admired who you could hand a copy of this EP to listen to, who would it be and why?
Nína: Hmmm, that is a good question. There are many artists that inspire me as a musician, but if I had to choose one to listen to the EP I would probably choose AURORA. She inspires me as a composer, singer and also just as a person. My dream is to collaborate with her, and maybe it would be more likely if she had listened to the EP hehe :D
8. Your release concert for your EP was at the National Gallery, what was that like?
Nína: It was a lot of fun. We didn’t have any expectations but the amount of people who came surprised us. This concert was also the first time we planned and hosted a concert just on our own so it was a lot of work to do, and we learned a lot from it. Since Iceland had very few Covid cases this summer we were able to play the concert with an audience which we are very grateful for. However, we are now back to strict restrictions and no “real” concerts allowed.
9. Eyrún, in your opinion, what's been the best live experience by this band?
Eyrún: I think for me it was a concert we played in the middle of last summer, the next one after the release concert, which was in Iðnó (culture house in Reykjavík). The hall we played in is very beautifully old-fashion looking and there were super cool lights. It was such a good day and in the night we played alongside other great bands. The crowd was so pretty and lots of our friends were there. For me it’s one of these warming, beautiful memories that lighten up your life forever.
Concert in Iðnó. From left to right - Eyrún Úa Þorbjörnsdóttir, Eir Ólafsdóttir and Nína Solveig Andersen. Image Credit: Ása Ólafsdóttir
10. With people still wanting to buy CDs and vinyl, have you considered releasing your EP on a physical format?
Eir: Yes, we have, and we probably will in the future. However, since the track is pretty short, I think it would be a bit of waste to print a lot of CD and vinyl with only 15 minutes on them. We will probably wait until we have more material released.
11. Eir, how did you find your time in Spain? Is the culture much different from living in Iceland?
Eir: Yes, the culture was very different. Spanish culture is much more extraverted than the Icelandic, and their approach to the music scene is also quite different. I had a pretty hard time in Spain, and so I won’t go into details.
12. With so much brilliant music being released all the time, what music excites each of you right now?
Eyrún: I think the music that inspires me most at the moment is Weyes Blood, ZAAR, Björk, PJ Harvey (and those who have not released anything recently but inspire me a lot) Cocteau Twins, Blonde Redhead, Massive Attack, and Portishead. I could name many more but I think this is enough for now hehe.
Nína: Recently I’ve been listening to FKA Twigs, Beach House, Celeste, Lorde, Marica Hackman, Radiohead and more along with some Icelandic bands such as Hjaltaín, JFDR, Ásgeir Trausti and Mugison.
Eir: The artists I watch out for at the moment are K.óla, Mammút, Eivør, Agnes Obel and AURORA.
13. What's the next step for Dymbrá? Or has that step already begun?
Eyrún: Our next step has begun! We are making the music for a short documentary film about an Icelandic artist which is planned to be released in the spring 2021. It's very exciting for us because we've always dreamt of making music for a film together. Maybe it's the beginning of a new career, who knows ;)) We are also continuing composing songs and trying new things out as we’ve got new inspirations and ideas since we made the EP.
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Visit Dymbrá’s bandcamp page to download a copy of their self-titled EP.
Follow Dymbrá on instagram @d.y.m.b.r.a and facebook @dymbra.
