Beim Debütalbum der Isländer Vök waren wir schon hin und weg, holten gleich zum Vergleichsrundumschlag aus und warfen Figure gleich mal eben in einen Topf mit Werken von The xx, The Knife oder auch Poliça. Weniger als zwei Jahre später ist das Trio um Frontfrau Margrét Rán mit dem neuen Album In The Dark zurück – und scheinen etwas optimistischer zu klingen! Die zuvor düster, kühlen Elektro-Songs wirken auf dem Zweitwerk teils fast schon von Leichtigkeit beschwingt, immer wieder schimmern einige Sommerstrahlen durch die Komposition, die in ihrem klangvollen Pop-Sound ihren ganz eigenen Charakter aufweisen. Wir schickten der Band einen Sack voll Fragen – unser Bedroomdisco Interview mit Vök!

Bandinfo:
– Band name: Vök
– Band members: Margrét Rán, Einar Stef, Andri Már, Bergur Einar
– Founding year: 2013
– Location: Iceland
– Album: In The Dark

Questionnaire:

– It’s only been about two years since your debut record come out – seems like you directly got back into the studio after touring? Usually a lot of newcomer bands tend to first needing some time off, before getting back – how was it for you?
I was creating a lot of demos while we were touring Figure, the long bus hours really helped me kind of get into little writing zone and as soon as the touring schedule got less busy we started the recordings for In The Dark. Because we felt like we were hungry to make another album since we had all the material prepared and we were also excited to try new thing and try out other directions with our music.

– You’re from Island – a kind of magical place for a lot of europeans and a very musically country, as there are quite a few bands/musicians coming from Island. And a lot of electronic acts…could you describe a bit how the scene is in your eyes and how it influences young artists like you?
The Icelandic music scene is really beautiful, I feel like it’s a close community where everybody is really supportive of each other and it’s amazing how many people are ready to help you out if there is something you would need help with. I think it really improves the standard of the music here and I also feel like people here are really open for new things which is also a really positive thing.

– What were your pretension for the second record?  
We were changing directions and trying something new. We wanted to work around the Indie-pop genre were our first song “Before” came from. Doing something new might not please all of our fans that’s what makes me nervous but you can’t please everyone sadly. We are really happy with the album and hope our fans will be also.

– Which influences did you have while working on the new album?  
Hmmmmm…a bit of Tame Impala, Little Dragon, MGMT, The Weeknd, Portishead, Toro Y Moi, Niki and the Dove, The Cardigans and 80s music. Bits here and there…

– We read that you were also influenced by Tame Impala, which kind of surprised us, listening to In The Dark…what parts of their work/sound did influence the new record?
Well even though Tame Impala has a big influence on us it doesn’t mean that we wanted to make an album sounding just like his music, I think the punch in his music and his amazing synth soundscape inspired in a way to make the album a bit more punchy. I would say that our interlude song Rooftop Views is the most Tame Impala-ish record.

– When you first listen to the record it feels like a very danceable and light record, but the lyrics seem very dark and heavy in the same time – was this your concept, how did it evolve like this?  
This album is much more direct then our last album, it’s also in a way much more accessible, I feel like I tried to incorporate the songs/beats in a way it would compliment the purpose of each lyric and face it with irony sometimes by making sad lyrics to an upbeat happy song.

– For the record you did work with James Earp as producer – why did you choose to work with him and what influence to the record did he have? How is his working routine?   
He has a really chilled and comfortable vibe and work methods, no stress is allowed in the studio.  We met at a writing session in London at the end of 2017 and we instantly clicked. We wrote “Erase you” together at that session and he was also just a really nice guy so i wanted to try out doing an album with him. James has a sense for melodies and what works and what doesn’t work together.

– Could you tell a bit about the production process, how In The Dark was done, which was the best and worst moment during the making and what is your most told anecdote from that time?
The process started in my computer where i created the cores of the songs then we moved them into Einars computer/studio and started recording some instruments and create more depth into the tracks. Then when we felt confident about the songs we sent them over to James , luckily he loved them all. Then me and Einar flew back and forth to London, Iceland, London, Iceland and defined the songs with James.  We recorded most of the vocals at his studio in Notting Hill and added and replaced some instruments. For us, it was a really hot summer filled with extremely addictive iced coffee, Rosé and sourdough pizza. I loved when we were sitting outside of James studio late in the evening enjoying very iced drinks , enjoying each others company and chatting to the friendly neighbors. The worst part about the heat was the bloody heat inside the studio, at daytime it was sometimes unbearable.   

– Round Two is our favorite song of the new record – could you tell us a bit what it is about, in which situation it was written and what’s the story behind it?
Originally this song was supposed to represent my androgynous self, how difficult it was as a 15 year old girl to all of the sudden dress up as a boy. To be free of having to dress up femininely but how proud i am today to the young me coming out of the closet at that age. Which is a beautiful story i’m going to tell later with a bigger and catchier song ! So i showed the song to Einar and we decided to write about dishonesty which we both connected to. This song is the heaviest one on the album it takes me back to certain times were i had massively screwed up my relationship. This is basically after i came back to the dirt hole (scarcity) and dug myself an even deeper whole by cheating, keeping it a secret and by living in a fantasy world that everything is okay and thinking i was doing my girlfriend at that time a favor by not telling the truth.

– We also read that during this recording most of the lyrics were written by Margrét for the first time. How was the process before and why did it change on this record?
This album is much more personal, by saying personal is from my personal life. I wasn’t the main lyricist in the band before but on this album I am but Einar had a big part in gluing them together. The Figure album was more about general human emotion and ruff organic beats.

– You also just were on tour with The Editors – how was this experience for you?
There were so many good experiences, the crew and band are some of the greatest persons ever, but definitely the stand out was playing all these big venues. The only bad experience was that I was sick for a big part of the tour. I did NOT enjoy that…

– What are your next plans?
Tour and tour and tour and tour and maybe start writing something NEW.

– What are you doing, when you’re not making music?
Listening to music, drinking coffee extensively, dreaming about hot weather and bathtubs of avocados, working out, traveling and spending time with family’s and friends.

– What did you learn in 2018?
Don’t take anything or anyone for granted because you might lose it today.

– Which song makes you dance every time?
Spend The Love!

– How would your Bedroomdisco look like?
Like a very groove gay bar

Vök Tour:
01.04. Yuca, Köln
02.04. Knust, Hamburg
07.04. Gretchen, Berlin
08.04. Ampere, München