17.01.14 MusicWeek 11
UK TICKETING CHARTS THE MOST SEARCHED-FOR ARTISTS OF THE PAST WEEK
TICKETMASTER UK POS EVENT
1 ED SHEERAN 2 ROD STEWART 3 ROLLING STONES 4 GARY BARLOW 5 DRAKE
6 LITTLE MIX 7 BASTILLE
8 KATY PERRY 9 THE 1975 10 MCBUSTED
POS
EVENT 11 AVICII
12 MILEY CYRUS 13 SUSAN BOYLE 14 HAIM
15 JAKE BUGG 16 FALL OUT BOY 17 ELLIE GOULDING 18 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE 19 RUDIMENTAL 20 KINGS OF LEON
ON THE RADAR ÁSGEIR
At the age of 21, Icelandic born singer-songwriter Ásgeir Trausti Einarsson, better known simply as Ásgeir, is one of Iceland’s most successful homegrown talents and is releasing the English language version of his debut, In The Silence, at the end of this month. In 2012, he released the
album - its original name Dýrð í dauðaþögn - in his homeland, and it shot to the top of the country’s music charts. Soon after, it became Iceland’s fastest- and biggest-selling debut album by a homegrown artist, eclipsing the likes of Björk and Sigur Rós in the process. Such is the popularity of Ásgeir’s debut that it is thought that 1 in 10 Icelanders now own a copy of the album. Speaking to Music Week,
Ásgeir describes how surprised he was at his debut’s success: “I never expected anything because I wasn’t planning on doing anything with my music at all! One night I went to a friend’s house and we were listening to some of the demos I had record- ed. He really believed in them. So I went for it and called the producer the same night. My life took a turn that night.”
Ásgeir defines his sound as a
“mixture of electronic and folk”. The lyrics for his English-lan- guage album are a direct transla- tion of the original Icelandic record, with the translation process carried out by American musician John Grant. Ásgeir knew that Grant, “a language genius” fluent in Russian, Spanish and German, was living in Iceland while making Pale Green Ghosts and decided that he was “the perfect guy to help.” This working relationship was
extended when Grant picked Ásgeir to support him on tour even though the Icelander reveals “my name was actually not on the list, but [Grant] just told them that he wanted me”. It was on this tour that Ásgeir was given his first exposure to UK audiences. He has since head- lined Bush Hall and even appeared in the latest series of TV show Made In Chelsea. Ásgeir will next appear in
London as part of his headline UK tour in April 8, marking the end of a cycle of touring that takes him around Asia and Europe. Amongst his growing list of
accolades, Ásgeir has four Icelandic Music Awards from 2012, including Album Of The
TICKETWEB UK POS EVENT
1 RUDIMENTAL 2 WARPAINT
3 PROPAGANDA 4 JOHN NEWMAN
5 LONDON GRAMMAR 6 REEL BIG FISH 7 TOM ODELL
8 BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB 9 LAMB OF GOD 10 RIZZLE KICKS
POS
EVENT 11 KODALINE 12 LESS THAN JAKE
13 KILLSWITCH ENGAGE 14 ANNIE MAC 15 FIELD DAY
16 KERRANG! TOUR 17 STROMAE 18 THE GAMES 19 SONISPHERE
20 EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROS ESSENTIAL INFO
RELEASES 2013 May 14 Free Download EP: The Toe Rag Acoustic Sessions August 12 Single: King and Cross December 16 Single: Torrent
2014 January 27 Album: In The Silence April 7 Single: Going Home
LABEL One Little Indian
MANAGEMENT María Rut Reynisdóttir
maria.reynis@
gmail.com
Year, and has been given the 2014 European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) by the European Commission. However, when asked to pick
his ultimate career highlight, he was far more modest in his choice: “It was a huge thing for me just getting my first radio play in Iceland. It’s also a privilege to be able to travel the world and play your own music and just do
what you want to do.” And whilst he admits that
comparisons between himself and his boyhood idols Sigur Rós are musically accurate, he is quick to quash any notion that he is planning to become as famous as Iceland’s biggest band: “I don’t have any plans on where I want to be. If nothing else happened from now I would be happy.”
LIVE 2014 January 25 XFM X-Posure All Dayer: Barfly Headline UK tour including April 8 at Union Chapel, London
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