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Name: Arny Margret
Occupation: Singer-songwriter
Nationality: Icelandic
Recent release: Arny Margret's debut album They Only Talk About The Weather is out October 21st 2022 via One Little Independent Records.

If you enjoyed this interview with Arny Margret and would like to find out more about her music, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I was around 6 years old when I started playing piano, later I also started playing the flute and saxophone in a band. But I didn’t start playing the guitar until I was around 14.

I started listening more and thinking more about music when I was 14, Gregory Alan Isakov was and is one of my big influences.

I think it was the music and lyrics combined that drew me in.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

I don’t know what exactly it is, but it is a good feeling.

It drives me. Music makes me want to make more music, when I like something I take inspiration from it, it can be the song itself or the lyric.

But I don’t think I’m one of those people that see objects or colours, it’s more of a feeling for me.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

I’m a very shy and introverted person, so at first I didn’t use my voice like I do now. I use it more now than I did back then but it’s just a process, and I always try to get better, I think I’ll always be finding my voice.

My music taste also changes from time to time, but I think it always has the same core.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

I listen to music that I relate to or like, it’s mostly about the story and lyrics but the music itself is also a huge thing for me.

I think identity is a big part of it, we're always trying to find our identity and I think people use music to talk about it, either they listen to someone or they write about it themselves.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Stories, people, music, conversations, words and weather. I use that a lot when I make music.

I think each person has a different idea about it, art is such a big thing, it’s just our brains and all our ideas put out into the world in whatever form each person chooses to use.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I think it is a blend of both for me, we can’t just stop playing the old music even though new music comes out and the other way around. All music should live, I think.

But I think we’re all trying to be original, make our own ideas and songs, changing them and doing them our ways. But I also think timelessness will live too.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Guitar for sure, I can pick it up whenever I can, I also always have my phone on me when I want to write lyrics.

It wasn’t the guitar in the beginning but later I started relating to it. I just play it and find my way of using it. I also listen a lot to music to get ideas or to learn more. I don’t really have a strategy I just do what I can.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I wake up, sometimes early, sometimes late. I get ready, maybe pick up my guitar or go for a walk. If I can, I go to the studio, and I like swimming in my free time. Sometimes I call people to meet up or sit at home and write. And sometimes I just want to chill at home and watch a movie.

Every day is very different for me, but I always wake up and go to sleep, that stays the same.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

When I make songs, it’s just me and a guitar and something I have to say, and I really like that.

When I finish a song it feels like my birthday, feels like I have done something really great. I think that part is the dearest to me, also when I get to record them and make them bigger in the studio.

When I play live, that is totally different, there are people there and I’m not alone in my room. But it’s nice when people like it, and I get nice feedback.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I like to listen to music by myself, it’s a bit different when listening with others, but if the music taste is similar it can be very fun, but those two things are completely different.

And when I make music myself, I like it more when I write on my own because I can be more vulnerable and honest, but maybe it also takes a bit of practice to collaborate on songs and write with other people.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

I don’t really know how to answer that. But the role of music in society I think is quite big.

Music is everywhere, in ads, tv shows, movies, coffee shops, elevators you name it. It can change a mood or a vibe of a room, it has a big role in society.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

Music is a way of telling stories so I think a lot of people use it to deal with that, and I do too. We are all just people trying to relate to one another and music is exactly that, people being sad or happy, telling stories about their feelings about a lot of things.

But it’s also really cool when listening to music you can take from it what you need, what you relate to even though the song wasn’t quite written about that, songs tell a different story to each person.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

I don’t think of music in a scientific way, so I can’t really see the connection between music and science myself.

But of course if you go deep into it, sounds and waves and all that.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Maybe not, but still it can be.

When you make a song you usually put your heart and soul into it, tell a story of some sort, talk about how you feel about something. Coffee, maybe, if you’re very passionate about it. You could put your heart and soul into it and tell a story with it.

But I think it’s hard to compare, we are all passionate about something.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

Music is such a weird phenomenon, I can’t really explain it. But I’m glad it works.