W.i.G.--for Women in General

Emiliana Torrini-Iceland's next Big Thing
Interview by T. Wallace and K. Gasperini Photos by Tom Wallace

Although Emiliana Torrini, 24, is the size of an elf, she's equipped with a voice that fills arenas. Her stop through Seattle as the opening band for the Travis and Dido tour had the audience spellbound. A combination of story-telling lyrics, an impressive vocal range, and an ace band-including former Sugarcubes drummer, Sigi-she and her three-piece band produced a far greater range of music in a much shorter timeframe than the 5-8 piece bands that followed.

"Love in the Time of Science" Emiliana's record out on Virgin, just touches on the potential of her live performances. Similar to another Icelandic export, her rolled "r's" and bumpy cadence sounds like a mixture of brogue and English. Set to music and enhanced with a magical vibrato, songs like "Telepathy," which she belts to the ceiling, left us all hoping for more and thinking we were someplace else.

When we headed to her dressing room before the show for this interview, she was tucked into a folding chair and sleeping. Without any pretenses of rock stardom, she shook off her sleep, offered us red wine and food, and started talking and laughing like old friends catching up recent gossip. For people unfamiliar with the sound of an Icelandic accent, it can be quite shocking at first to listen to, but I'd been to Iceland a few other times. Only, I'd forgotten about the musical, tinkling sounds some Icelanders use when expressing themselves. Emiliana was no exception. She sounded like talking instrument. Ironically, we had similar acquaintances from the world of snowboarding. But before we knew it, it was time for her sound check and Simon, her road manger, motioned to us that it was time to leave.

W.i.g.: Nature seems to play an important part of inspiration to many Icelandic artists. Does nature influence your work as well?
Emiliana: Yes definitely, you can't avoid it. [Reykjavik] has grown in the last 10 years. It's big and nature is all around it. And when you leave your country and you're in a city and there is nothing around but skyscrapers, it's completely different. It's a different kind of nature. I guess it's a lot of what you are. You always bring your country with you.

What about the belief in magic which is so prevalent in Iceland?
Yeah, Definitely.

And where do you think that comes from, the belief in fairies and elves…the darkness?
It's really old. I think it comes from the Irish. It's always been there because we grew up with stories every night when we go to sleep. Story telling is a big part of Iceland. There is TV, but not on Thursdays. There were ghost stories and others-to believe in elves is sort of free thinking-not to exclude anything.

Has that helped you with your lyrics-free thinking?
Yes, I think I'm very much a free thinker. I'm not really good at adjusting to things [that don't change]. I'm curious to understand things.

How do you like touring?
I love it. I love being on tour, everybody looks at me and says "oh god we are staying on the bus for days…" I can't stay in one place for long-mostly a month or I go "lalalala." I love the bus; we call it the magic bus. We have the crummiest bus on the tour. It's a magic bus because I never know where I'm going: I just wake up and I'm going "whoa." The change is incredible and I love it. I've never really been to America. I've been to LA and New York but my dream when I was little was to get in a car and drive through America and now I'm doing it.

What do you think of other Icelandic bands, like Sigur-Ros, Mum, and Gus Gus?
I was in Gus Gus and I sang on their first album. We started Gus Gus from a movie that was done, its was called Lost and everybody that was acting was somehow involved in music decided to do a sound track for the film and that is how it started. When it got big I quit because I didn't want to be in a band. I wanted to start doing something by myself and explore more.

Is that how you became a solo artist?
No, I didn't have a vision of it going anywhere. I was hired by a restaurant to do private parties and so one day I decided to give my dad five songs that I would sing for his 50th birthday present. I was experimenting with my voice and we decided to do an album, which we did by ourselves. [The album] went very well, which was very funny to me because it's a very bad album. Then some guy from a label in England heard me in the restaurant and asked me if I wanted to come to England and I really didn't want to sign anything or do anything because I promised myself that after that album, I never going to do an album again. There is a certain point in Iceland that you go to and then you will have to stop. I was 17 and I thought I'm not going to do this anymore. I was going to go to Bavaria and travel around and learn different singing techniques and travel with gypsies. That was my dream.

What other types of music do you enjoy for yourself as far as singing or simply listening to?
Oh there is a lot of it. There is a new Icelandic band that is really good that doesn't have a name yet and they are going to go. And Mum-they did a re-mix for me and they played at my very first gig with this album in Iceland. I was like blown away. And Sigur-Ros…

What are your thoughts on Sigur-Ros and their unique musical techniques?
I think they are brilliant and they are heading exactly where they should be.

What does your family think of your musical career?
There're fine with it. They're not really bothered by it. They're very down to earth. They say when it works, it's good you, but you can fall down on your face tomorrow.

The Sneaker Pimps offered you to sing with them. Did you do any recording with them?
Yes, we did lots of really great demos. But I didn't want to be in a band. I have a difficult time being in bands because you can't get complete freedom and a lot of compromising has to be done. Sometimes you have to sing songs that you don't like and you open your mouth about it and you get slapped for it. You're working with friends, but I can't cope.

How was it touring with Moby?
We were at the festivals [in Europe] and it was great fun. The highlight of mine was when we did a gig before the festival with Lou Reed.

We want to talk to you a little bit about your songs, one being the vocal style for your song "Telepathy." It's very different than the others.
I can use completely different vocal styles. I love playing with the voice. But I completely went into thinking about the song writing on the album. I have a difficult time doing happy songs. I'm still learning and I'm doing a lot of "rrroarrrr" [this was her frustrated thinking sound]. The next one will be completely different. I love playing with the words, but this one song was me.

Are you planning a follow up album now?
We are doing this tour and then I will get my stuff together because "ohhh!" It's all over the place. Then there are the things you have to do between songs. I really have not had the time. I got some ideas but I don't think I can plan anything. It's all been chaotic with work and I like that.

You have an album of mixes out on Fat Cat Records in Europe. Do you plan on releasing any of that in the U.S.?
I hope so. If Fat Cat are up for it and I really hope so because I think we made 25 re-mixes with different people and they were amazing. It made me really happy and I'm hoping that we can put it all together, but it's theirs and I'm not going to butt in.

We saw a long video you were in about an old women. It was shot in black and white.
That was my restaurant time because the record went "whoop!" and I had to do a video for it so I was like, OK.

Do you like doing videos and working with film?
I do if they go well. I love the first one we did which was with a bingo game, which a friend of mine did she is amazing. We played bingo now and again in London. We had to do it there so we went around playing bingo then had to go to Spain and carry the camera around.

Are you based in London?
Yes, but I'm really not there much.

Do you make it much back to Iceland?
Yeah, I grew up at my grandfathers four months a year in eastern Iceland, but the house burnt down so I was sent to Germany to live with my uncle so I was raised by a lot of people. It was great lot of characters.

How did you get into singing? Was there a time when you thought I could actually do this?
I sort of fell into it accidentally [laughs]. I was always singing. I was in the choir but then I went on this journey and I never knew I could sing like this. Then I was in a band when I was 15 and got fired. But then I got started with another band and I really didn't like the music. So I did this birthday present for my dad which was like blues, pop-completely out of know where and that is when I knew "oh my god" it's really weird but I can sing something. Then I did the Gus Gus thing and then I came here. So I am just taking it as an adventure thing.

So you're a snowboarder. How long have you been doing it?
Four years, mostly in Iceland. I go to the glaciers most every time I go there but last time only once.

Have you been snowboarding with Adelheither, the woman who runs Nikita Snowboard Clothing?
I worked for them at their shop, but got fired.

Why did you get fired?
Because I've never been able to keep a job. I'm a bum. I was really bad with that job. The only job I could keep was working in a fish factory. It happened to be a caviar factory, which was good but I had to go from slicing up the fish, straight to the stage. I did a lot of theater then and I couldn't shower in-between, so I'd be doing the dance routines, and I'd be stinking. I thought it was very funny.

Is snowboarding your favorite sport?
Yeah, I like playing soccer though too, and with the band and we wrestle a lot. We have a thing where we're always wrestling.

They let you win?
No. One time [we were wrestling] and I was like help me! and I was like, "fuck" and I woke up with my neck stiff and it was like somebody had strangled me. It was all over my neck; it was hardcore. So when I get up, I got them with a "Hi-Ya!" [motions karate clops] and they go "ooohhh" because it was right between the legs.

Can you tell us more about the theater that you like to do?
Oh I really didn't like doing it. But I was asked to be in things. The first one I was in was "Hair." I was never thinking about it; I was just trying it. It was a good summer job and did it so that I didn't have to pick up trash in the streets. Everyone has to pick up trash in the streets in Iceland when they are 13 to 15.

Like volunteer work?
They get paid for it. That is what you do-the kids clean up the streets in the summer. But hey do anything to escape it. I did plays.

Seems like a lot of people are involved in the Arts of some sort in Iceland.
You have to. I think if you're from a hardcore atmosphere like Iceland were there are such extremes-the weather is sometimes just so-you can't go out so you find yourself something to do. It's a bit of different thinking. Otherwise you would probably go nuts if you didn't have art and music.

You mentioned that you would have to stop singing at a certain age if you didn't make it. Was that by your choice or your culture?
No, I just thought that I'm stopping here now. I have to go somewhere else like Bulgaria or something else, just do something and I thought this is going to be the last thing. Somewhere you have to stop and use your bravery when you have it, while nothing is keeping you there. And then this [tour] happened and I had nothing to lose.

In the U.S., many musicians are programmed to become super stars like the whole Brittany Spears movement.
I think you need to know what you wish for, and why you are doing it. There are different reasons for everything. I don't think there is a wrong reason for doing something, but I think at the end of the day, it's where you're going to end up. You need to be ready to let go. I just say be careful of what you wish for. All things can be completely different than what you see. I don't think I'm ready to give up all my freedom completely.

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