When Icelandic multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Sóley (Sóley Stefánsdóttir) released her third studio album Endless Summer in May this year, the prologue to "Grow" revealed that she had a more halycon setting in mind: "the idea of the album came pretty randomly one night. I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote to myself: write about hope and spring". Given that the average temparature in Iceland during summer is only 10°C (50 Fahrenheit) - with peaks at approximately 20°C (68 F) - however, one would expect a summer-themed Sóley album to be devoid of banal references to suntans, bikinis, partying and beach volleyball.
The album cover (which obscures the lower half of Sóley's face with abstractions) and the long, lonely trek across a barren snowy landscape that she takes in the music video for "Grow" indicated that her penchants for deep introspection remained. The album's press release noted that it "is like the Icelandic summer, a liminal, endless turning, a shift of consciousness, an endless awakening of continual brightness not without the acknowledgment of winter; it is the eruption from which the rebirth of light emerges".
Opening track “Úa”, which recently gained an accompanying music video, was named after her young daughter. Sóley moves from the shadows towards the bright lights offered by an open window in the music video, signaling her shift in focus from the moribund to the optimistic. The whimsical track nevertheless balances tenderness with a slightly morbid subtext ('it is hunting me while I sleep'), achieving a layered effect akin to an unabridged Grimm's fairy tale. Against delicate pianos, horns, strings, twinkling percussion and an airy melody, Sóley promises solace even as she threatens to temporarily vanish: 'Stay, my dear/ Cause I'll be gone awhile'. There is wonder, enchantment, espacism and mystery to be found in this 'us against the world' aesthetic, but also ominous hints of fear. When you live in Iceland, the darkness is never far away.
