| November 2011 |  - lestu íslensku umsögnina |
Helgi Hrafn Jónsson - Big Spring – New CD
Helgi Hrafn Jónsson has just released his eclectic new solo album Big Spring. 12 Tónar distributes the CD in Iceland. Featuring 12 tracks, dynamic and playful like never before, jumping from intimate moments of Helgi with his acoustic guitar, to atmospheric falsetto voices over a grand piano, to deep menacing trombones, to walls of electric guitars, to colourful and complex arrangements drawing on his classical background. The first single “Darkest Part Of Town” has already received good airplay. The album contains the duet “Careful People” written and performed with Tina Dico. Big Spring is Helgi’s third album, first came Glóandi (2005) and four years later For the rest of my childhood (2009). He has also released three EP’s: Aska (2008), Kví, kví (2009) and Blindfolded (2010).
Born in Reykjavik in 1979, Icelandic artist Helgi Hrafn Jónsson started his
unconventional journey in music when he picked up the trombone at the age of 7, but already at 5 he proclaimed he wanted to be a “pop singer”. Today, a critically acclaimed singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist, not many people would call Helgi’s music “pop”, with its great wide landscapes of contrasts, sharp edges and big emotions, yet it is evident that he is an artist with a strong ear for catchy melodies and a will to embrace and touch a broad audience.
Helgi stuck passionately and exclusively with the trombone for many years and debuted as a soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra at age 19. The same year, after finishing his classical studies at the Reykjavik
Conservatory of Music, a sought-after teacher lead him to continue his studies at the University of the Arts in Graz, Austria. Here, meeting a variety of musicians, he started to spread his time onto other genres, digging into contemporary music and the world of jazz and improvisation, touring with bands like Beefólk and Jazz Big Band Graz. Always hungry to make music and experiment with ways to express himself, the beginning of this millennium saw the birth of Helgi as a singer and songwriter, now accompanying himself on guitar and piano, turning up the volume and theedge, creating the very personal sound that he has since become known for.
As part of the small group of musicians around the record label Bedroom Community, Helgi continues to work as a singer and trombonist with producer Valgeir Sigurðsson, composer Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Sam Amidon and Daníel Bjarnason. In 2010 the group toured Europe under the name “Whale Watching Tour”, performing at prestigious venues such as the Barbican Center in London. He has recorded and performed with artists such as Damien Rice, Glen Hansard, Ane Brun, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Amiina, Funkstörung, Dzihan & Kamien, Tom Jones, Múm, Philipp Poisel and many others.
Listen to the song: Passport No Passport
Buy the CD in our online-store or in our stores in HARPA or Skólavörðustígur.