Funeral And Rebirth

Words by Stína Satanía
Photo by Sigga Ella (www.siggaella.com)

HEIÐRIK first drew my attention in 2013 when the amazing Faroese artist Eivør released a video for her song True Love, directed by a certain Heiðrik á Heygum. I quickly learned that this Faroese citizen currently based in Reykjavík has many feathers in his cap – he’s a visual artist, film director and musician. After I discovered his incredible sense of fragility and the thrilling dark atmosphere of his previous works, I couldn’t wait for his album Funeral, released in Iceland last September. When he was signed on independent Polish label FONOBO this spring, I seized the opportunity to have a chat with Heiðrik about the sonic and visual aspects of his work. The interview was first published in Polish on the website MuzykaIslandzka.pl.

When I say Poland, what comes to your mind?

My crazy wonderful friends from Poland [laughter]. Then of course I think of the history of Poland, so dramatic and rich, of what happened before and after the war and under communist rule. I’m very drawn to history in general. Poland is an interesting place for foreigners. There is a lot of prejudice and misunderstanding around it. I was really happy to go to Poland, to see everything and to be able to make my own mind about it, instead of simply believing stereotypes or other people’s opinion about the country. I was very positively surprised. I think Warsaw is probably the new Berlin. Because it’s cheap, nice and easy to travel to.

[Suddenly very excited] Ooh! Disco polo! I love disco polo, I think it’s amazing. I’m totally spellbound by those videos (Editor’s note: disco-polo is a popular genre of Polish dance music, with a very peculiar style. Check it out!). It’s so foreign to me. I love it because it’s so absolutely bizarre. It’s such an amazing concept, I just can’t understand it at all. That’s a great thing, all those weird songs and videos. I’m especially taken by the videos. I’m being very serious! I want to make a video like this myself.