Yes like i said before, by pure coincidence we were both in Isafjörður same weekend the summer of 2018 and the ball started rolling after that. When did the idea for a joint project mature and what was the trigger to realize it? His real name is Ragnar Sólberg Rafnsson and he is also Icelandic, but he does n’t live there. ISAFJØRD was born out of the cooperation with Ragnar Zolberg. The photo captures the weather, the winter, the desolation, the mountains, the life, the beauty of the buildings. Well the building on the left, beautiful wooden one burned to the ground in 1946, so sometime shortly before that. When was this picture taken, and why does this picture perfectly capture the spirit of your music on this album from your point of view? And the photo is almost shot from the place my family ran a bakery there for 100 years. If you go to Ísafjörður, that view, those building are right in the heart of the town. It means heart stick, a place to put your heart on, or even an impaled heart. The album itself is titled „Hjartastjaki “ What does the title mean, and how does it relate to the picture? Not sure, but isolation thru centuries does certain things, keeps a language closer to origin, and our horses and pretty unique today, they are pretty much the same brand since the year of 1000. Is a sense of homeland and heritage on an island, where you never had to separate yourself from your neighbors, less relevant or, on the contrary, even more relevant than on the mainland? Later they got arrested by the Brits during WW2. Imagine living in NYC at that time and moving to Isafjörður where 2000 people lived. My great great grandfather for example lived in New York in 1910 and sailed from there with his at the time new wife who happened to be German, all the way to Isafjörður. I can only speak for myself, but yes i am very much interested in my ancestors and the life they lived. W hat fascinates people of your age so much about the Iceland of bygone days? I have the impression that various Icelandic musicians have a strong connection to their homeland, especially to the Iceland of their parents or grandparents time, which they process in their music.

Knowing how beautiful this town is and with such a rich history it was a no brainer to explore the archives of the old photographers from Isafjörður and we found so much cool stuff that we have artwork ready for 20 albums or so. The whole idea of writing an album together came when we were both there in the summer of 2018 with our families, Ragnar had a solo acoustic gig booked there and invited be to join, so we did our first show together, doing covers. Yes we both have a strong heartful connection to that place, even though it’s been a very long time since either of us lived there. The reference to origin in the band name, but also the cover suggest a strong homeland reference of the album – would you subscribe that and does this also apply to the lyrics? Also naming it „Ísafjörður“ would be too direct. And i used to live in Norway back in 1997 as well so we both speak Norwegian, so whole project had a Norwegian feel to it. Well, we wrote the album in Norway, Ragnar lives there and has been for a few years and i went for a visit for a week and we stayed in the forest for a week where Ragnar has a little home studio. First of all: Why not „Ísafjörður“ then? One could think: The more Icelandic it sounds, the better? Your new project is called ISAFJØRD, named after the town Ísafjörður, where both your fathers come from.

Big bad bosses the raid lyrics