Árstíðir

Blending classical and folk traditions through rich vocal delivery and acoustic setups, the Icelandic chamber pop group Árstíðir achieved rapid acclaim with their self-titled debut album in 2009, which topped the national charts. Operating independently of any label, the band sustained strong domestic popularity in the years that followed, issuing a 2011 successor before a 2013 a cappella rendition of an Icelandic hymn performed at a German train station spread rapidly online and introduced them to international audiences. Later works such as 2015’s Hvel and 2018’s Nivalis incorporated occasional rock and electronic layers into their established sound.

The core trio of Daníel Auðunsson, Gunnar Már Jakobsson, and Ragnar Ólafsson established Árstíðir in Reykjavík in 2008. The following year they independently issued their debut album, which secured two singles on Icelandic National Radio and reached number one on the country’s album chart—an unexpected achievement for newcomers working in a moody acoustic chamber-folk style. After navigating a 2010 tour interrupted by ash clouds from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, the band entered the studio with producer Ólafur Arnalds to create Svefns og vöku skil, released in 2011. By then Árstíðir had expanded to a sextet through the additions of cellist Jónas Jensson, pianist Jón Elísson, and violinist Karl James Pestka. In 2012 they became the first Icelandic act to receive the Eiserner Eversteiner European Folk Music Award, presented in Plauen, Germany. During a German tour the next year, footage of an impromptu a cappella performance of the Icelandic hymn “Heyr himna smiður” inside Wuppertal’s Bürger Bahnhof train station circulated widely on YouTube, amassing millions of views and extending the group’s reach worldwide.

To finance their subsequent record, Árstíðir ran a 2014 crowdfunding campaign that exceeded its target threefold, enabling sessions with producer and multi-instrumentalist Styrmir Hauksson (Ásgeir, Of Monsters and Men, GusGus) at Reykjavík’s Orgelsmiðjan Studio. The resulting album, Hvel, appeared in 2015 and was followed by the band’s first U.S. tour. For their next endeavor, 2017’s Verloren Verleden, Árstíðir collaborated with Dutch singer Anneke van Giersbergen (the Gathering) on a joint collection of reinterpreted classical and traditional pieces. They returned in 2018 with Nivalis, their fourth studio album, which further integrated rock and electronic components into their signature lush chamber-folk approach.