Getting To Know... Seabear and Sin Fang Bous

Iceland has recently developed a reputation as an ethereal fantasy land full of musicians who craft epic songs full of lush, emotional melodies—and with famous exports like Sigur Rós and Múm efficiently cornering that market, it’s easy to imagine that not much else goes on in the land up north. But take one listen to the jangling, folk-infused melodies Seabear, one of the four up-and-coming Icelandic artists featured in Paste's second-annual International Issue, and you might be pleasantly surprised: The septet’s tunes, with lyrics sung in Nordic-tinged English, sound more earthy than angelic. With one album down (2007’s The Ghost That Carried Us Away) and another on the way, frontman Sindri Sigfússon took some time out of mixing the band's second album for an email interview with Paste about Seabear, plus his new solo project, the equally delightful Sin Fang Bous.

Paste: How did Seabear grow from a one-man band to seven members?
Sindri: Well, I never planned to play live, I guess. I had insane stage fright and planned on just recording stuff. Then I was asked to open for a band I really like called The Books, from the U.S., and without thinking about it I just said yes. So then I had to find some people to play with me, and I asked my friend Guggy to play the violin and Örn Ingi to play the guitar. It went pretty good, and we kept playing as a trio for a few months. Then for the [Iceland] Airwaves festival we got some other friends to play drums and bass, and then somehow over the last two years it snowballed and now the core of the band is seven. The difficult part with such a big band is getting everyone together for rehearsals, recording and touring. It can be hard to get everyone's schedules to fit. It’s good for the music, I think, to be so many in a band. The songs go through lots of filters, I guess and probably end up the best they can be.

Paste: What are you trying to accomplish with your solo project Sin Fang Bous? And what exactly does the name mean?
Sindri: When I graduated from art school I had all this time on my hands. We have been recording the new Seabear album for the last year, and in between recording sessions and tours I have been recording my solo stuff. For the album that just came out [Clangour], I had a few missions for it. I wanted to play all the instruments myself—I have lots of really talented musicians as friends so it’s pretty easy to get people to play on your stuff, but I wanted to try to do all of it and see if it made sense. I also was trying to be a bit more brave with my voice, and I did lots of improvised stuff. Lyrical wise, I wanted to try to listen to my “crazy voice” that everyone has somewhere in the back of your head. I sometimes just hit “rec” and went out into the recording room and did something. Most of it didn’t end up on the album, but some of it turned out nice. About the name, I just wanted to make up something that didn’t exist before. Sin (Sindri) Fang (my teeth kind of look like fangs) Bous (I don’t know where this came from. I pronounce it like “booze,” but it's open to interpretation).

Paste: Why is it important for you, or any musician, to have a solo outlet?
Sindri: I feel like I’m in a very good place musically these days, and I love to make music by myself from scratch. I don’t think every musician should have a solo outlet, and some just work much better in a group or with a partner. People just have to find their own way and what works best for them.

Paste: How is the creative process different without six other people to weigh in?
Sindri: When I’m doing the Sin Fang stuff it's just me, and I just have to deal with myself. With Seabear we play the songs first and then talk about how we should record it and arrange it. It's a longer process but really fun. With Sin Fang there are kind of no set rules, but with Seabear we've kind of fallen into certain roles and it works very well.

Paste: Are you guys still in the process of recording your forthcoming album? How's that going for everyone?
Sindri: Yes, we are mixing the new album right now. It's going very well. We've been making this album for a long time and we're really excited to release it. The songs are a bit more complex and it's more of a band album. It's not as folky/country as the other one and a bit more rock-y, I think. But when you've heard the songs a thousand times, you kind of lose sight of how the songs are. I can probably explain it better in a couple of years.

Paste: Iceland has a formed a reputation, at least to the oft-generalizing outside world, of a having a specific kind of sound—in what ways is that limiting to what’s going on in your country? And what drew you down a more indie-rock path?
Sindri: I’m not sure if it's limiting, but in such a small community, bands tend to try to find their own sound rather then imitating the most popular band of the moment. I think that's good, and that makes the music scene pretty diverse even though it's not a big country.

Paste: With such a beautiful native language, why did you choose to sing in English?
Sindri: I’m not sure why I sing in English. I learned English really young from music and video games. Maybe it's just that since I can remember, I've been listening mainly to music with people singing in English. One of my earliest memories of what I wanted to be when I grew up was Michael Jackson. I'll sing more in Icelandic one day.

Paste: What’s in the future for you solo-wise and with Seabear?
Sindri: I’m working on a new Sin Fang album and the new Seabear album will come out in October. Sin Fang will be touring in Europe and opening up for Múm in the states.

Paste: So we should expect you and your band in the United States pretty soon then.
Sindri: Yes! Both Seabear and Sin Fang. I've never been to the U.S., and 2009 is the year. Yeehaw!

Listen to "I Sing I Swim" from Seabear's The Ghost That Carried Us Away:

Listen to "Clangour and Flutes" from Sin Fang Bous' Clangour: