Aside from their trademark vocal harmonies, it is their instrumentation which sets their sound apart, effusing a warm tide of resonant acoustic and baritone guitars, virtuosic piano, and melismatic strings. The result is an unusually wide sound spectra, further emphasized by the impressive vocal range of all six members. Having been around for less than a year, Árstíðir have already charted two number one singles on Icelandic radio, and have released one full-length album and live EP on their homespun label Nivalis. 

Árstíðir was formed in Reyjavík in the summer of 2008. The first version of the band was trio that played songs in the style of Crosby, Stills and Nash, Neil Young and Simon and Garfunkel.

The three founding members Daniel, Ragnar and Gunnar had at that time been performing cover songs in bars for some time, so writing their own material together came as a natural step.

Already the band had a unique instrumentation. Gunnar and Daniel both played acoustic guitars, with one of them frequently using a capo on the guitar neck, and Ragnar had an enormous baritone guitar. With all three guitars operating on different frequencies the band, although acoustic, had a wide audio spectra, further emphasised by their impressive vocal range.

Soon after its formation the band recorded an early version of their song ‘Ages’. The song was recorded by Vignir Snær Vigfússon at the Reykjavík Music Productions studio, and mixed by the acclaimed producer Þorvaldur Bjarni.

The first break for the band came in august. At that time the band used to hang out in a local coffee-shop called Hljómalind. A lot of the times they brought their guitars and practiced within the premises, and they did regular gigs there on Sunday afternoons. One day a by-passer that worked for the city heard the band play and immediately booked them as a supporting act for the band 200 000 Naglbítar and Lúðrasveit Verkalyðsins when they played the Reykjavík Art Museum on the Reykjavík Culture Night. Happy with their performance the guys from 200 000 Naglbítar decided to let Árstíðir open for them on two other major shows: one in Íþróttahöll Akureyrar (the Akureyri Sport Arena) and one in the Icelandic Opera.

The cello player Hallgrímur Jónas Jensson had been a good friend of Ragnar for many years. He joined the band in the last week of November, just one week before Árstíðirs first performance on Icelandic National Radio (Rás 2) where they played five songs. The band went on a road-trip to Akureyri that same day, and Hallgrimur was properly inaugurated.

The arrival of Hallgrímur in the band proved to be an important watershed. As a cross-genre specialist Hallgrímur had an enormous impact on the development of the bands sound, blurring similarities with acts such as CSN. He also joined in on vocal duty and so the band now had four singers.

As the quartet drove home from Akureyri in a snow blizzard, plans were made to record their debut album. But first they decided to put on a big show and release a live Ep. The concert was held at the beautiful Fríkirkjan church in the heart of Reykjavík on December 30.th. Roughly 300 people attended the concert. Musician Svavar Knútur opened the concert and joined the band on piano in their version of Simon and Garfunkels ‘Scarborough Fair’. The concert was recorded by Birgir and mixed by the talented Ólafur Arnalds. A seven song live Ep was released with artwork by Hörður Ólafsson (who is a faithful advisor to the band).

Now preparations for the full length record were well underway. The band contacted the eccentric and equally genius Axel “Flex” Árnasson, as they felt that he was the right person to capture the warmth of their acoustic sound, and work the proper studio magic. A decision was made to record everything live in the studio, and keep overdubs at an absolute minimum. This was done to preserve the live feeling of the music, and convey their warm live sound to the listener. In practical terms this meant that the band would sit in a circle in the studio with expensive microphones strategically placed all around them and play the songs from start to finish with all the instruments playing at the same time – just like people used to do in the old times. For the reminder of the recording process the band applied this method, and every song that ended up on the record was recorded this way.

The band met with Flex in the legendary Hljóðrita studíó in Hafnarfjörður in December, and started by recording one song. ‘Sunday Morning’ was an immediate radio hit. It got extensive airplay on Rás 2, and was a number one hit for two weeks in a row. The song was also featured on the CD compilation Pottþétt 49.

In January the band joined Svavar Knútur in hosting the Melodica music festival in Reykjavík. Melodica is a festival held in various cities all over Europe every year which celebrates acoustic music and artists.

After Melodica the band returned to the studio and recorded more tracks. The recording process proceeded without major complications, but the band had some discussions about the arrangement of some of the songs. Something was needed.

In February Árstíðir played a gig at the newly opened and classy Jacobsen bar in Reykjavík. Prior to the gig the owner Loftur had asked the band to put on a “out-of-the-ordinary” performance, and add something to make the gig stand out. The band called Jón Elísson, a master pianist and a good friend of Hallgrímur. He agreed to perform with the band, and so rehearsals began. It soon came clear to the members of the band that Jón was the final ingredient that the band had been looking for. The gig was a huge success, and in a celebratory after-party Jón was offered to join the band.

The band was now a quintet, and everyone felt that the Árstíðir had found its sound. With two acoustic guitars, one baritone guitar, a cello and a piano the sound-spectra had become quite massive and dynamic. The band went back to the studio to finish recording the debut album. With the addition of keys some of the songs were re-arranged and then re-recorded. The work, as well as the extra studio cost, however would pay off.

For some time now, the band had been playing regular gigs at the legendary bar Rósenberg. These gigs were used to fine-tune the sound of the band, playing to an ever growing crowd. The band did an appearance on the national TV show Kastljósið in mars earning them a bigger crowd to attend their regular Rósenberg gigs.

The bands second single ‘Látum okkur sjá’ was released shortly after their TV-performance. A much darker and less straight forward song than Sunday Morning, it did not do as well as it’s predecessor, but it had established Árstíðir as a bi-lingual band writing as much in Icelandic as in English. The song did however catch the attention of Gunnar Ben, a composer and conductor living in Reykjavík, who re-arranged the song and made a choir version. The song was performed by the choir Kór Kvennaskólans at the Fríkirkjan church on April 23.rd.

The recording process was now coming to an end, and the band started shopping around for a record contract. None of the offers were tempting though, so the five members of the band simply started their own company – Nivalis ehf – that would release the album.

The mixing process started, and a graphic designer – Högni Valur Högnasson – was contacted to work with the band on the artwork for the album. A theme of different feathers of Icelandic birds was chosen, to symbolize the changing seasons.

While in the studio the band had played around with a couple of songs that did not end up on the album. One was ‘Með hallandi höfði’ wich is a cover version of the song ‘Helplessly Hoping’ by Crosby, Stills and Nash. Ólafur Páll, a radio personality and a major player in the Icelandic music scene heard about the recording and asked the band to hear the song. He liked it and started to played it on Rás 2. As it turned out the song became an unexpected success in Iceland, and the second song from the band to be a nr 1. hit.

The eponymous debut album ‘Árstíðir’ was officially released on June 19 in stores all over Iceland. The band put on a grand release concert in the old Loftkastalinn theatre in the heart of old Reykjavík, and then immediately embarked on a 18 day tour around Iceland with Svavar Knútur and Helgi Valur.

The tour proved to be adventurous. All the musicians and the crew - two friends of the band named Gunnar and Steini who came along as driver and roadie – traveled together in an old Ford Ecoliner held together by Duct Tape and hope. All the instruments were piled up in the back, together with the bands sound system, and the process of making everything fit was very much similar to a game of tetris. The members then had to sit crammed on top of boxes with CD’s and cases of beer. This however did not prevent the band from picking up a mysterious (female) hitch-hiker that traveled with the band for days on. The band would play one major gig every night, and a few minor ones during the day, learning every step of the way about the virtues of hard work, and the perils of rock ‘n roll decadence.

The band continued to play shows at various festivals thru out the summer, rehearsing at Ragnars home Njallinn in the weekdays. Njallinn is as an artist-community in central Reykjavík where musicians and artist come to meet and hang out. One out of many talented musicians in Njallins gravity field that summer was Karl Pestka: a composer, video artist and violinist extraordinaire who had been playing for some time with Ragnar in another band called In Siren. His entry into Árstíðir happened quite naturally, and his violin took the band to another level. Karl and Hallgrímur were a perfect match as a string duo.

The six man line-up was premiered in mid august when Árstíðir put on a sold out concert at the atmospheric rock bar Sódóma, together with Lights on the Highway. All the songs had been re-arranged and had bigger string parts, as well as 6 voice-harmony vocal parts.

In September the band put on a concert at their beloved Fríkirkjan church together with the Icelandic legend KK. Louise Petersson, a reporter from the Reykjavík Grapevine, wrote a review about it where she said:  “Shit. I mean, wow. Where to begin? Can mere words even do justice to the emotion KK and Árstíðir evoked during two too short hours at Fríkirkjan? 

This fall has seen Árstíðir go thru a series of concerts, one highlight being the Icelandic Airwaves festival.

The band is currently composing new material, and plans are being made to start the recording of a new album early next spring.

For news about the band please check out our monthly news letters.