Name: Stilluppsteypa
Members: Sigtryggur Berg, Helgi Thorsson
Nationality: Icelandic
Current release: Stilluppsteypa's new album Schokolino Choco Loco is out via Futura Resistenza.
Recommendations on the topic of sound:
Sigtryggur Berg: I'm crazy about books, even now audio books, which I thought would never happen ... recently I really enjoyed Harold by Steven Wright and Me & Mr. Cigar by Gibby Haynes
Helgi Thorsson: I have no ideas at the moment. I have not read a non fiction in a while - I'm reading children's books for my kids these days. Sometimes I'll listen to books while doing something else at the same time.

If you enjoyed this Stilluppsteypa interview and would like to know more about the band and stay up to date on future releases, visit Helgi Thorsson on Facebook, and Sigtryggur Berg on bandcamp.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Sigtryggur Berg: I remember as a kid when I got interested music it would give me so much joy that I would be jumping all over the place. Then later, as a teenager, it was like a drug. I could just stay in my bedroom most of the day alone, listening to music and just be mesmerized by it.

Seeing colours is also something I can relate to. I have music playing all day while I work on painting and drawing, even now replying these questions. So yeah, pretty much all day something is playing on the stereo.

Helgi Thorsson: Music has always been a vehicle to go to another place from my early childhood memories, into a kind of dream space or fantasy world.  Colours or Windows desktop videos are not really going on, it's more a sort of daydreaming if I'm fully engaged in the listening.

Most of the time I listen to music to improve my concentration on other tasks or work. Instrumental music is better for this, if there are lyrics I get distracted.

I find that the best listening experience on my own is when I'm in bed with headphones, in the state in between sleep and being awake. What happens to the body is what makes it work or not - it should invoke feelings and put you in a different place altogether, good or bad or frightening.

Mostly it should uplift me. If it's irritating in any way and I can't space off then it needs some fixing.

How do listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

Helgi Thorsson: Best through speakers if possible. Headphones are ok but they make me tired quicker. A good stereo is great. I don't have the best setup but in the future It will get better

Sigtryggur Berg: In the early 00s, I would work on stuff using headphones, especially the mixing part. But somehow I never enjoyed listening to music with headphones. Actually now it drives my ears nuts, especially my left ear.

Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

Sigtryggur Berg: I like music that feels and sounds like it's not yet finished, as though it's a demo tape or something like that.

It can be a lot of stuff but I have to think of Hasil Adkins now for example whose music I've loved ever since I first heard his “she said” track on the amazing rockabilly psychosis and garage disease compilation album.

That record opened up a lot of doors to a lot of great stuff!



Helgi Thorsson: Older music mostly sounds better to me. Joe Meek, Link Wray, Donovan, Cluster, Harmonia.

[Read our Cluster's Hans-Joachim Roedelius interview]
[Read our Harmonia's Michael Rother interview]

The digital age is when things start to sound a little shit, but sometimes that is a good sound. I like the sound of electronic music like Koto stuff and Tangerine Dream in the 80s with FM synths sounding all kling klang harsh digital.

So I guess everything goes.



[Read our Tangerine Dream interview]

Concerning quality of sound I think is down to individual taste and I think we have already passed that peak of best sounding equipment a long time ago.

I can't think of an album that has a disturbing sound and atmosphere to it. Kraftwerk's Radio Activity comes to mind - but there are so many great ones it's impossible.



Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?

Helgi Thorsson: Yes I do and for some sounds, like radio noise, there is always some element of fear and danger. The reason is linked to my childhood. I used to play with the old radios in my house and often, when I was alone in the house, and my fear of ghosts and space - sounds from out of space - made me really scared, I had to run out of the house … I had scared myself too much listening to some radio frequency.

I'm still fascinated by this and I made some tesla ghost radio for an exhibition with Icelandic artist Steingrímur Eyfjorð. I used it on the last album, got all kinds of strange voices and things from it, and it sometimes worked extremely well in the company of other people. I have no idea how it works or what it is picking up, but it is throughout the album - perhaps warnings from out of space get out of the house.

But when it comes to other sounds and melodies, I don't have a classical education so everything melodic is just based on a feeling and sometimes frustratingly alien to me. I do like to keep the dilettante alive, so I don't damage my intuition with a learned skill.

Sigtryggur Berg: I used to love high frequency type sounds but absolutely can't stand them anymore. Often I'll have to leave a gig if it's going too much into that territory.

But I've always loved low type drone music, that's when I like to listen with my eyes closed.

There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

Helgi Thórsson: People whistling can be both of these: wonderful and annoying, depending on the hour and the whistler.

Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

Sigtryggur Berg: My street is a narrow one and sounds feel like they are bouncing around somehow. Like echo. For example, I'll be working on sounds in the living room and have the window open and these sounds from outdoors sometimes comes so magically into the mix that I really would so much love it if they actually were in the mix. Sometimes I'll try to record stuff that way.

For my solo album for Streamline, called into the second half, I recorded the playback of the material in the room with the window open while I read a book -  you can hear my flipping the pages of the book - and added that to the mix.



Every Wednesday the eggman comes around and to let people know he's coming, he'll play these rooster crowing sounds and that has quite a number of times made me wish it was actually in the mix. I did once miss it as I was trying to get it, as he doesn't drive by at the exact same time every Wednesday and just went “fuck it” and went online to sample a rooster crow, as I had to get the thing down and done.

If there are people down in the street talking I hear it very clearly. So better not be gossiping or badmouthing people in my street.

Helgi Thorsson: Phones are annoying especially if they're making all sounds with everything the person is doing, even typing. Talking machines are more common now, the future we're all waiting for.

Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

Helgi Thorsson: Yes, but I don't have a clear memory of any. I have lately been inside old oil tanks with endless echo listening to some performance.

The surrounding kind of took the best of it, it was too much, I craved for extreme minimalism in those surroundings to be able to experience the place better

What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?

Helgi Thorsson: It rarely happens these days, so anywhere is my favourite.

I have a small closet with my audio equipment and computer. When I managed to open that closet and plug some things together, that's my favourite place to record.

Sigtryggur Berg: I usually do all stuff in my living room, which can get boring and rather lonely at times. And I need another chair to work in as it's killing my back. Which is why I really like collaborating with other people in their – as some might like to say - professional studio.

Do music and sound feel material to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?

Helgi Thorsson: In a sense. But I don't think that it's linear. Rather, it has similar elements. Let's say you have some smooth textures, then you may want something rough and crunchy with it ... things like that,

But it's not that planned or conscious, it always happens through playing and experimenting. The experiments will take you for a ride and there is not much you can do except just follow that, then listen to it later and see if it works or just stop and forget it altogether.

I do have hours of material I recorded and still need to listen to. I'm listening to something right now, as I write this, and I have absolutely no idea what it is, what was used to make it. Still, it was made by me in that closet I mentioned earlier (not intoxicated).

Sigtryggur Berg: Sure does. I studied sound art in the late 90s in a school for visual art and they were going more for the visual aspect - like building a sculpture with maybe speakers built inside the sculpture or something like that. Like a sound art installation type of thing.

But I was always more interested in the sound itself being the sculpture.

How important is sound for our overall well-being and in how far do you feel the acoustic health of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

Helgi Thorsson: It's definitely more important than we think.

Mostly, we don't get silence in our environment and to stay sane, we have our own things playing in our ears. So we all are getting deaf and suffering from tinnitus, including myself.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds?

Helgi Thorsson: Any animal making a loud sound always impresses me: a cow mooing so loud and unapologetically, well done cow. I'm so far from nature and the animal kingdom ...

I think animals deserve a bigger part in our daily life. We should bring the animals to the city, they're all super smart. I mean birds come and go as they want - I always like the laughing seagulls in the city.  I had moments after some rough nights where the seagulls were driving me insane, following me in the city and I was convinced they were laughing at me. Now I like to think we're on the same team, laughing at other people and their troubles.

Of course the ocean has the best sound for relaxing and some beaches here in Iceland have rounded rocks that are all polished from the waves and have magical sounds. Yes, we need nature sometimes.

Many animals communicate through sound. Based either on experience or intuition, do you feel as though interspecies communication is possible and important? Is there a creative element to it, would you say?

Helgi Thorsson: Well yes, and they are telepathic so communicating with animals will help everyone. I have a cat and I talk to it but I think mostly telepathically we understand he is super clever. I will call him right now … ok yes, he's busy outside sleeping …

I have had many pets. They're all telepathic but not all smart. I had a smart fish he jumped out of the aquarium to get food from my hand! I had some rats which were smart, super smart in fact. They could understand their names  like tiny dogs.

Oh, the cat has answered my callings, he´s here now drinking from my tea ... he likes a little caffeine, but not too much.

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you're suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

Helgi Thorsson: I have this and am trying to give my ears a break by not having headphones on for too long. I'll use protection in loud working environments.

I think it may be too late but I hope it's not. I have lost a lot of my hearing and would like keep what I have for as long as possible.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

Helgi Thorsson: I think silence is great and in Iceland I don't need to go far to experience it - or at least a quiet place where there are no man made sounds anywhere. It's so good and relaxing, especially in these dark times.

To find places no human really goes to, that's a good thing.

Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the universal sense and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

Helgi Thorsson: I think it would be a good practice at least. I find it hard to listen to others with full attention and perhaps this would get better if I were blindfolded or not paying any attention to their behaviour.

Being aware of something and paying attention to something specifically always brings in new understanding or at least ideas for creativity. If I'm a little lost or stressed and have nowhere to be or if I'm simply waiting for something, paying attention to the sounds in my surrounding always relaxes me and gives me a feeling of unity.