Catching Up With... Amiina

amiina is simultaneously a blessed and cursed band. Originally, the Icelandic art-rock sextet (which just released its second full-length album, Puzzle, back in September) began as a string quartet, adding visceral, haunting orchestral arrangements to landmark albums from their fellow Icelandic natives Sigur Ros (2002’s ( ), 2005’s commercial breakthrough Takk, and 2008’s Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust). The band went on to tour with and open for Sigur Rós, ultimately exposing their experimental soundscapes to hanky-clutching audiences ripe for another eye-popping musical import.

The bad news is that being pals with Sigur Rós also brings along some very specific expectations and an easy trap for a “knock-off” branding. Their 2007 debut, Kurr, demonstrated a band willing to experiment (tinkering with bizarre instruments like musical saws and glass harps), but the general critical consensus was that it paled in comparison to their hushed, intricate live show: four quiet, seemingly modest women manipulating samplers and exploring weird worlds of noise and melody. Ironically, Puzzle is a lot more in line with the Sigur Rós’ most recent catalog; instead of hovering in an ever-twisting ambient mist, these new tracks are relatively concise, beat heavy, and highly melodic, with two tracks (“Over and Again” and "What are You Waiting For?) ripe for alternative radio.

Perhaps the change has something to with the line-up switch—on Puzzle, Kippi Kaninus and Magnús Eliassen make their amiina debuts, adding electronics and percussion, consequently breathing new life into the band’s stylistic palette. We recently caught up with Eliassen (nicknamed “Maggi”) to catch up on the band’s recent activities, the reaction to Puzzle, and their surprising stylistic changes.

Paste: Maggi, thanks for talking to Paste! First of all, where you right now, and what’s up?
Maggi Eliassen: Sure thing! I’m sitting in my very cozy living room, enjoying the very long winter darkness here in Iceland. Twenty hours of darkness, anyone? Not a lot “up” except for the amiina gig coming up this Friday, interviews, etc…

Paste: So Puzzle has been out for awhile now. Are you pleased with the reaction from fans and critics? Also, do you guys pay much attention to your reviews?
Eliassen: I’m pleased about the reviews, yes, mainly because we have gotten great reviews. And I’m also happy about the reviews that were not nice at all. It´s nice that people have different meanings and opinions about our music. I do read the reviews we get, but I don´t get upset if we get a bad review…
Our fans seem to be enjoying the album immensely, so I am pleased about that. And I am very pleased with the outcome (the album)! That counts, right?

Paste: You’re the drummer…and since you’ve joined, the amiina sound has gotten slightly more conventional—not necessarily in a bad way or anything—but you’ve definitely changed things up. Do you think you personally had anything to do with this, or was the band headed for a change anyway?
Eliassen:I think it´s a mix of both things. Since 2008, when Kippi joined amiina, the music has become more electronic and beat-driven, and that´s something all of us enjoyed.

Paste: Speaking of these instrumental change-ups, what, do you think, led the girls to decide to bring you two in? Also, what electronic artists/bands (or other artists, in general) were inspirations for this album?
Eliassen: I think it´s because we have such a great chemistry going on when we play, especially when we play live. And the girls wanted to do something new, something more “energetic.” I don´t think there were any specific electronic bands that were an inspiration for this album. I myself really enjoy Aphex Twin’s works, and I think everyone of us enjoys his music.

Paste: Does amiina have any musical influences that might be surprising?
Maggi: Surprising musical influences, you say? I am a lot into African music. And most of us enjoy jazz music. And I am jazz-trained, so that is maybe something surprising. I don´t know. But we have quite different tastes…

Paste: amiina has toured and recorded with Sigur Ros. On Puzzle, the more recent, slightly more conventional Sigur Ros sound seems to be rubbing off—these are the most accessible songs the band has done, and there are even tracks in English! How much of an influence is Sigur Ros?
Eliassen: Sigur Rós is a big influence, mainly due to the fact that the girls have been working with them since I don´t know when. And Sigur Rós makes beautiful music so that just adds to the influence.

Paste: Do you think the two bands will tour together in the future?
Eliassen: I really can´t tell you. Maybe. Maybe the girls will join them on stage again, someday. One can never know, right?

Paste: Tell me about the recording of Puzzle. How did these songs come to exist?
Eliassen: The first songs we did together were created a part of two concerts that were commissioned by the Reykjavík Arts Festival in May 2008. The atmosphere at those two gigs was amazing, and so we decided it would be fun to play some more together. We sometimes take an idea that one of us brings to the table as a starting point, and it is then developed further over a period of time. The structure of a song comes at different points in the process—sometimes it’s there pretty much from the start, but sometimes we’ve had to allow the structure to come after we’ve decided on the general feel and texture of the song.

Paste: *You say these songs start from a variety of places, but since this album is a little more band-oriented, could you talk a little more about the songwriting process?
Eliassen: Well… me and Kippi, we do the beats together. And most of the time, when we are working on new material or a new idea, a couple of us meet up, record the idea and then we send it via e-mail to the rest, and then we just work our way from there. Sometimes me and Kippi meet up, play on some beat ideas; Kippi adds some electronics, and then the girls meet up and bounce around ideas about the form and which instruments they should play.

Paste: The production is pretty intricate on Puzzle, especially tracks like “Over and Again,” where you can really feel every pizzicato stroke and snare hit. Tell me about the recording of the album, and what do you think separates this album from your last album, Kurr, in terms of production?
Eliassen: The production of both albums was in many ways similar, but the use of instruments is of course quite different after me and Kippi joined the girls. Having drums and more electronics requires a different focus. The album was recorded in Sundlaugin , where we record most of our music, but also in our former rehearsal space in Grandi, at Marías house, in Kippi house, and in JL-húsið, where we used to rehearse. I don´t know much about the mixing process or anything like that because I was actually living Norway at the time of that. So yeah, they just sent me mixes via e-mail.

Paste: “What are You Waiting For” seems to be the obvious single here. Do you agree, and which song would you say is the “standout” track?
Eliassen: It is the obvious single! In my opinion, the “standout” track is “Ásinn” because it is the first song we wrote and played together. And the first one we recorded together as well!

Paste: Could you talk a little bit more about how “Ásinn” came together? Was the magic there right from the beginning?
Eliassen: Kippi brought the base of the song to the girls when they were working on that Reykjavík Arts Festival performance back in 2008. Kippi and the girls had been working on the song for a while before I was asked to play in it. But then I showed up to the studio where we were practicing and, yeah, the magic happened. And yes, the magic was there from the beginning—We still had to work a lot on the song, but it was there…

Paste: I saw amiina open for Sigur Rós back in 2005 (the Takk tour). The show was really awesome, and I was completely taken back by how unusual these older songs were in terms of instrumentation (musical saw, kalimba, etc.) and structure. How is your live show these days? Do you still play a mixture of old and new material? If so, do the crowds tend to favor the more accessible stuff, or do they seem fairly open-minded?
Eliassen: The instrumentation live is pretty much the same, except for the drums and the electronics. We do play a few old ones like “Kolapot.” “Kolapot” has been on the setlist since before me and Kippi arrived but has undergone a few changes over the years. The crowds seem to be very open-minded and not really caring about whether the music is accessible or not. They just seem to like our music, which is nice!

Paste: Earlier, I mentioned the fact that you have some songs in English on Puzzle. What is the goal behind moving in this direction?
Eliassen: There is not really a goal behind that decision. We thought it would be nice to try out new things, like singing and writing lyrics.

Paste: Being from Iceland, you guys have obviously played a lot over there, and you’ve also done
some touring in the US and the rest of the world. Which country is the most fun to play?
Eliassen: I don´t know, really: Italy, the US, Iceland, the Netherlands…

Paste: It’s obvious the amiina sound has evolved. There is a way brighter tone throughout a lot of these tracks—I almost found myself dancing along with those handclaps in “Mambo”…
Eliassen: What? I have nothing to do with that whatsoever! Joke…Yes there is a brighter tone throughout a lot of the tracks on Puzzle. That is mostly because of the heavier use of drums than on any of the previous amiina albums…

Paste: I assume you’ll be doing some more touring for the new album, but besides that, what’s next for you guys?
Eliassen: We will be touring a bit. Some of us will be performing at the Perth International Arts Festival in March 2011, playing live soundtracks to Lotte Reiniger’s silhouette animation films. And then we are starting to write new material, which is fun. Maybe there is a new album on the way. Who knows? I don´t.