Eyþór Arnalds: "I'm just getting started"

"It's just anticipation," says Eyþór Arnalds, former leader of the Independence Party and musician, who will perform at the Icelandic music festival Iceland Airwaves tomorrow, Saturday.

In an interview with mbl.is, Arnalds says that a fifteen-member string ensemble will play a composition by himself, which is now being released on an album.

"It's a 15-piece string band. Viktor Orri Árnason is going to manage. We are going to go through this kind of journey where we go through scenarios with a minimalist theme."

The composition in question is called The Busy Child and the first song has been released and the video premiered yesterday.

Going back to the river

When asked, Arnalds says that he has not performed much over the years, except concerts with his old bands Todmobile and Tappi Tíkarrass.

"But maybe it's the same with me and the salmon that he goes back to the river and comes back to his home." It's just a very comfortable feeling."

And how do you feel about the upcoming concert?

"It's just anticipation. In reality, nothing has changed in that you are always excited to see the offspring come to life. It's kind of like creating a baby, creating an album. So it's just anticipation."

Another album in the works

Is this the first time you've performed under your name?

"Yes. I have worked throughout the years playing and composing for theater and films, the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, and more than publishing under my name, which would be the first time now," he says before adding:

"But I'm just getting started."

Yes, what's ahead?

"We're releasing this album this winter, and then I'm drafting album number two, and it's kind of a separate concept.

The concept of this album, it's a bit about artificial intelligence and what it means to be a man, and I'm just following that project this winter," says the musician and former leader in conclusion.

Here is the song that was released yesterday from Busy Child.