Sólstafir, was auf Isländisch „dämmrige Strahlen“ bedeutet, bezieht sich auf die durchdringenden Sonnenstrahlen, die in der Dämmerung durch dunkle Wolken brechen. Dieses Bild fängt perfekt die Essenz ihres kommenden Albums Hin Helga Kvöl ein, das am 08.11. erscheinen wird. Ein Signal des Lichts und der Hoffnung, das durch die schwersten Zeiten scheint. Während sich die Band ihren inneren Dämonen stellt und die Fesseln der Rock’n’Roll-Dekadenz abstreift, schwingt in ihrer Musik der universelle Kampf und Triumph über die Schwermut mit. Hin Helga Kvöl ist der heilige Krieg, dem wir alle in unserem Inneren gegenüberstehen.
Ihre neueste Single und das dazugehörige Video Blakkrakki ( = „Schwarzer Hund“) befassen sich mit einem ähnlichen Thema: dem schwarzen Hund als Metapher, die ihren Ursprung in Mythen und Folklore hat. Auch das neue Video zu Blakkrakki überträgt die Bedeutung der Sonnenstrahlen, die die Dämmerung durchbrechen, buchstäblich in einen wilden Trip
Seht euch das Video zu Blakkrakki hier an:
Bowen Staines, Regisseur für Don’t Panic Films, erzählt zur Entstehung des Videos: „Regarding the production of the new music video for Blakkrakki, this is actually the fifth video I’ve been lucky enough to do with Sólstafir. This particular idea for a future video (which would ultimately become Blakkrakki) came to Addi and I maybe four or five years ago, when we discussed the possibility of putting everybody on a flatbed trailer, and then just drifting the thing around the runways at the Reykjavík Airport and shooting the whole thing in a single take. And so we put that idea onto the shelf for a few years until I heard a very early demo for Blakkrakki almost four years ago at Sólstafir’s rehearsal space in Seltjarnarnes, the same day I asked them to learn Dionysus at three-times the normal speed for the video we’d shoot for that song the next day. And I remember looking at Addi, and being like “I want to do this one!”… Four years later (but also, only a few weeks ago), the guys were playing the song while standing on a flatbed trailer doing sixty miles per hour on a stretch of highway surrounded on all sides by one of the oldest lava flows in Iceland. From a filmmaking standpoint, I opted to include shots that revealed the cameras, crew and our driver, Lexi, because I felt that it was really important to share that part of the process, as well as the teamwork that made this video happen in a single day. By comparison, both Fjara and Bláfjall had 60+ pages of shotlists, took nearly four months to shoot, and then another five or six months to edit… while Blakkrakki was shot in a single day, and then edited over the following twenty-one — making this the fastest I have ever shot and edited a music video in my entire career. All of the camera movements and transitions were done 100% in-camera: there are no key-frames, digital fades or any motion paths, and as such, almost zero post-production. The most fun part of shooting the video was that everything was done totally guerrilla-style: active roads and highways, with the only items consistently strapped down being the cabs, amp heads, and the priceless Ludwig drumkit from 1963 that we borrowed from a personal friend of the band… ‘Careful’ just doesn’t quite say it. Thankfully, the only thing that eventually/inevitably fell off was one of the Orange amp heads and one of Hallgrímur’s drumsticks, for which he had to run all the way back to find amongst the infinite expanses of highway, moss and lava far behind us. That being said, there was a point after we had done a dozen or so takes and had gotten comfortable with everyone being on the flatbed, where we found our way onto this huge stretch of road called Keilir and began hitting speeds upwards of fifty to sixty miles per hour — and every time a large truck passed us, you can actually see some of the cymbals flexing in a few of the shots that made it into the final video — as well as a couple really quick clips of some of us almost falling off the side while going up a steep switchback incline near Þingvellir. The final step was to transfer the whole video onto Super16mm film, so that it has a very organic, weighty feel to it. So yeah, this whole video was transferred directly onto reel-to-reel 16mm film, proving once again that the format is not dead! All in all, Blakkrakki was a blast to make, and we hope you have fun watching it, too.“
Die Trackliste zu Hin Helga Kvöl findet ihr im Time For Metal Release-Kalender (hier):
Bestellt das neue Album hier vor: https://solstafir-band.lnk.to/HinHelgaKvol
Nach der Veröffentlichung des Albums am 8. November 2024 werden Sólstafir auf die Nordic Descent Tour 2024 gehen, die ein ganz besonderes Line-Up mit Oranssi Pazuzu beinhaltet, während der Eröffnungsslot zwischen Hamferð (13. – 24.11.) und Helga (26.11. – 9.12.) aufgeteilt wird.
Flying Fox AB and Doomstar Bookings proudly present:
Nordic Descent Tour 2024
Sólstafir
Oranssi Pazuzu
13. – 24.11.: Hamferð
26.11. – 9.12.: Helga
13.11.24 (NL) Groningen – Oosterpoort
14.11.24 (NL) Nijmegen – Doornroosje
15.11.24 (NL) Maastricht – Muziekgieterij
16.11.24 (BE) Brussels – Botanique
17.11.24 (DE) Bielefeld – Forum
19.11.24 (FR) Lille – Splendid
20.11.24 (UK) Brighton Concorde 2
21.11.24 (UK) Manchester – Club Academy
22.11.24 (IRE) Dublin – Opium
23.11.24 (UK) Glasgow – Queen Margaret Union
24.11.24 (UK) London – Electric Brixon
26.11.24 (FR) Paris – La Machine Du Moulin Rouge
27.11.24 (FR) Rennes – Antipode
28.11.24 (FR) Toulouse – Metronum
29.11.24 (ES) Pamplona – Totem
30.11.24 (ES) Madrid – Sala Mon
01.12.24 (ES) Barcelona – Razzmatazz 2
03.12.24 (IT) Milano – Alcatraz
04.12.24 (CH) Pratteln – Z7
05.12.24 (DE) München – Technikum
06.12.24 (AT) Vienna – Simm City
07.12.24 (PL) Warsaw – Proxima
08.12.24 (DE) Leipzig – Täubchental
09.12.24 (DE) Berlin – Metropol
Sólstafir – Besetzung:
Aðalbjörn Tryggvason – Gitarre, Gesang
Svavar Austmann – Bass
Hallgrímur Jón Hallgrímsson – Schlagzeug, Hintergrundgesang
Sæþór Maríus Sæþórsson – Gitarre
Sólstafir online:
https://www.solstafir.is/
https://www.instagram.com/solstafir_official/
https://www.facebook.com/solstafirice