Myrkvi (Iceland) – Some kind of pain and Sunstruck – sample tracks from the album Rykfall

I’ve encountered several perfectionists in Iceland and Myrkvi (Magnús Örn Thorlacius) certainly counts among them.

He has just released his third album, ‘Rykfall’, which translates as ‘gathering dust’; something which Myrkvi is clearly not doing. (And it isn’t an Icelandic James Bond film theme either).

It’s the first time I’ve heard him singing in English, which accounts for seven of the 10 songs.

A product, he says, of “years of work”, it is an almost entirely solo effort in which he performs or orchestrates nearly every little detail in search of something that “can withstand the scrutiny of time.”

That is a highly ambitious goal. Of the current gargantuan pool of musicians, even just in Iceland, who will be remembered in 10 years time, never mind 50?

The album tells a story about “a leap of faith to pursue a dream” but it starts somewhere in the middle, from where he looks back in retrospect, to reflect on what has gone before and on mistakes made along the way.

Then, as time passes, he learns that you start to doubt whether the dream is getting closer, which shatters your self-image. In the end, all you are left with is a bitter taste and the question of whether to start over again or walk away for good.

So the theme is the conflict between aspiration and disappointment. By provoking fate this way, Myrkvi hopes to disarm time of its ability to obscure, and as alluded to on the album, there is beauty in hidden pearls—even if they do gather dust.

Or he could change into his Superman gear and fly around the world so fast that that he stops and disarms time that way. But that would be too simple for Myrkvi and the challenges he sets himself.

The sample track (suggested by the artist) is ‘Some kind of pain’, which appears to be set in that no man’s land after he’s had ‘Second thoughts’ (another album track) and where the seeds of doubt have been sown and decisions have to be made.

I haven’t got my head around it yet but my early interpretation is that the challenge he set himself has had a negative impact on a relationship. It demonstrates his ability to stretch what starts as a soft, harpsichord sound ballad into what is almost a rock track by the end.

Of the other tracks I was particularly impressed by ‘Second Thoughts’ which has a distinctly Genesis feel to it (so much so that I inadvertently typed it as ‘Seconds Out’!) and even more so by ‘Sunstruck’, in which Myrkvi also gains a (solo) Peter Gabriel style vocal delivery to add to an attention-grabbing and eminently danceable melody and rhythm and serves up what I believe to be the most appealing track he’s laid down to date.

It’s the ‘In your eyes’ of downtown Reykjavik.

You know I have a sneaking feeling that ‘Rykfall’ is going to stand that test of time.

Find Myrkvi on:

Website: https://myrkvi.net/