The Total Sound Of The Undergound

Lelahel Metal

Delve into the depths of mental health struggles with Drungi's debut album 'Hamfarir Hugans.' Discover the Icelandic influences and emotional journey behind their powerful music.

1. Your debut album "Hamfarir Hugans" explores themes of mental health struggles. What inspired you to focus on this subject matter?

When we first hit the studio to record our album, which eventually became our demos to work with, our bassist Magnus sat in the break room and got an email stating that he got into university to study psychology. At this point in our process, we ran into a snag with the lyrics as most of them were not ready and we needed them to finish the recording process. After a few months of schoolwork Magnus pitched the idea of incorporating mental health into the lyrics and in unison Sjafnar, Magnus and Loki worked out lyrics that connected mental health with the energies of Icelandic nature. On top of this, mental issues have always been inspiring and with the current soar in mental awareness, we wanted to do our part bringing it to light.

2. How do you think your Icelandic background and the dramatic landscape of Iceland have influenced the sound and themes of your music? 

When we wrote the songs the feel of the music guided the naming of each song prior to the lyrica being written, you could say that Hamfarir Hugans is a collection of working titles that stuck. When we first started the band, we formed an image straight away in terms of the direction we wanted the first and second albums to take (expect more in the future). The theme was certainly influenced by Icelandic nature and weather, when the band was taking shape, I had recently traveled to the north of the country in extreme weather conditions where road closures and little to no visibility set the mood for the drive. That trip along with past stories of fishermen and travelers in Iceland dealing with extreme conditions sparked the theme of the album.

3. Could you tell us more about the creative process behind "Hamfarir Hugans"? How did the songs come together, especially considering they are exclusively in Icelandic?

Like most music it all starts with a single note, or in our case a single riff. Between the bass and the guitar bringing the ideas to the band during practice and those ideas get worked on, refined, defined, re-worked, scrapped, and rebuilt until every member of the band was happy with what was being played at each moment of every song. When every song gives the members goosebumps during practice, at one point or another, you know you have something good to bring to the people. And that is the aim of Drungi, to play music we like and present it as is to the audience, be it in a studio setting or live. As for the vocals, Magnus and Loki are avid Icelandic buffs and fierce advocates for the protection of a language shared by only about 400.000 people. So, we decided when we formed the band back in 2019 that we wanted a vocalist comfortable with Icelandic vocals. It gives us a better connection to the stories and landscape we are trying to shape in people’s minds, Harsh vocals, Harsh language and harsh elements.


4. The album artwork merges the mind and Icelandic nature. What message or feeling were you aiming to convey through this visual representation?

The album artwork is imagined a bit like a Rorschach inkblot test, you see what you want to see, and you feel what you want to feel. Hamfarir Hugans, translates to Disasters of Mind and for those that see the album cover as two faces, linked by two hemispheres of nature, with emotions trickling down like water, then we would interpret that as how we discussed the idea of a “calm before the storm”, that is, you see the calm and then listen to the storm that is our music.

5. "Alda" and "Myrkur" are powerful singles from the album. What do these songs mean to you personally, and why did you choose them as singles?

We chose Alda as our first single of the album due to its drive, it powers through with such ferocity that we felt it would showcase us as a band in the best possible way. The connection with Alda is on a deeper level though and that did influence our decision as well. Alda is the depiction of suicides, how the waves and power of the ocean tears at those suffering from suicidal thoughts before pulling them into the deep dark where they may find some level of peace. Also due to Iceland’s geographical location and the island being surrounded by ocean, many suicides that take place here are people that simply walk into the ocean, we call it in Icelandic “Að ganga í sjóinn.” And most people in Iceland know or know of someone that has taken their own life in that way. 

Myrkur on the other hand is a bit slower, less driven but still equally as powerful. Showcasing the different creations people could expect from the album, but it’s a band favorite. In Iceland we experience a lot of darkness due to weather, but also due to the sun being low hanging in the winter months. This causes some remote towns in the north of Iceland to not see sun for a couple of months and our daylight is as short as 3 hours during December. Due to the dark being overwhelming, many Icelanders suffer from winter depression. Depression is also the mental health issue of Myrkur, sludging along, feeling gloom. And the song emphasizes this powerful feeling with the guitar riffs being slow, but powerful. We also use the rhythm of the song to show how dealing with depression is like a waltz, Depression being the lead and the individual in the passenger seat.

6. Your music is recommended for fans of bands like Black Sabbath, Gojira, and Manowar. How do you feel about being associated with these iconic names in the metal scene?

In short, it’s an awesome feeling to be associated with bands that have inspired our music. During the writing process, many parts of the songs are credited to the band that inspired each section. Myrkur has the “Gojira part” and Kvika has what we call “The Sólstafir part”. So, when we see those associations it brings us great joy and we hope that the people who enjoy those bands will enjoy our music as well. It’s all we can really hope for with our listeners. 

7. The band has a background in theatrics. How do you incorporate theatrical elements into your live shows, and what can fans expect from your upcoming tour?

Sjafnar, our lead vocalist is a trained actor with experience with working in TV and Movies. This is something that he brings to the band, both in our videos and interaction with the audience during live shows. He encapsulates our audience and engages with them in a fierce manner. Loki, our rhythm guitarist is a film production student, something that can be seen visually in our music videos for Hamfarir Hugans, his insight and creative writing elements does impact how we coordinate ourselves during our shows. Maggi (Magnus) our bassist has extensive experience with stage and lighting design, so even if the first shows will perhaps be, “a metal band on stage”, our ideas for shows will progress and become more intricate as we plod along in the future.

8. Could you share some insights into how mental health and folklore intersect in your music? How do these themes resonate with your audience?

Being that the album is mostly focused on natural aspects, such as intense weather or natural disasters there perhaps is not a lot of folklore intersecting with mental health but more the imagery of intense nature as mental health issues. Like Alda and Myrkur resonating the deep feelings of Suicide and Depression and Kvika (Magma) being deep rooted anger bursting out. 

So far from what we gather people feel the elemental connection with many of our songs but perhaps don’t connect to the mental issues as much due to the language barrier. 

9. What challenges did you face during the production and recording of "Hamfarir Hugans," and how did you overcome them?

Well, between members leaving the band and guitar amps blowing up in the studio, we had several issues with the recording process. 

We started our recording process in Sundlaugin studio, a prominent studio in Iceland, in June of 2022. And only a couple of weeks after the recordings were finished our drummer decided to leave the band due to him moving out of the city and not being able to balance the time properly. So that was the first issue we faced. In a panic, Maggi took to the internet and looked for drummers to join the band. He stumbled on a port from (at the time) 12 years earlier from Drummer and backing vocalist Sandra. She had been away from the music scene for some time but enjoyed the music a lot and decided to join in. Following that she assisted with the melodies of vocals and assisted Sjafnar in getting his vocals finer tuned. 

We didn’t really enjoy the sound of the recordings from the June session, so we booked a session with producer Stephen Lockhart of Studio Emissary who had previously agreed to mix and master the tracks. So, we booked a studio for drum recordings, but due to her time away, Sandra did not feel that she would do the music justice and so we got a friend of the band Kristján, from local band Changer, to take on some session work. 

In spring of 2023 we headed to Studio Hljómgarður (Studio Soundgarden) to record vocals and guitars. After we had finished recording rhythm guitar, we got the lead cab hooked up and blew through the song Skjálfti, before starting on Ófærð. That’s when disaster struck, Rúnar’s Marshall JCM 800 simply blew all the tubes and stopped working. This took a few months to repair before re-booking the studio and finishing lead guitar takes as well as the guitar solos. 


10. How do you balance the heaviness of your music with the emotional depth of your lyrics? What do you hope listeners take away from your songs?

With the lyrics having mostly been written after we finished the music it took us some amount of time to balance the lyrics to match the emotion, and original lyrics had to be slightly modified to match the flow of the songs. But the depth of the emotion comes from the extensive matching and multiple late-night sessions in Rúnar’s basement apartment, recording, redoing, re-writing, and re-recording. 

We simply hope that our takeaway with the music and lyrics is enjoyment. Also, we hope that those who do capture the depth and meaning behind each song understand that mental health is important to nurture. And to those suffering from mental health problems, that they know they are not alone.

11. As a band, what are your long-term goals and aspirations? Are there any specific themes or topics you'd like to explore in future albums?

There is more to come, we’re already hard at work with the next album, so keep your eyes and ears out for that. As for now we’re keeping the theme close, but all will be revealed in due time. 

Long term goals would be to bring our live shows and experience outside the island to allow other countries to experience seeing our live shows. 

In terms of dreams and hopes, we would like to perform with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in their home base of Eldborg in Harpa. Other dream venues are Royal Albert Hall, O2 and Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado.

12. Finally, what message would you like to send to your fans and listeners as they anticipate the release of "Hamfarir Hugans" and your upcoming tour?

Enjoy the calm before the storm, and get ready for a sonic storm that will rock your mind in a new and interesting way.

Facebook

Drungi (@drungiiceland) • Photos et vidéos Instagram

(14) Drungi Iceland - YouTube

Musique | Drungi (bandcamp.com)


 

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post

Formulaire de contact