Stafrænn Hákon

BIOGRAPHY 2007
Stafrænn Hákon - Gummi
Release Date: 7th march 2007 (ASIA), 25th June (UK & US)
Once described as “frequently mesmerizing, seamlessly interwoven combination of electronica and ambient guitar..” by the legendary Wire magazine. Stafrænn Hákon has indeed through the last 6 years been described as a mix of post-rock, lo-fi, ambient guitar & electronica. The Icelandic born Ólafur Josephsson has been recording music since 1999 under the name Stafrænn Hákon (sometimes stafraenn hakon, stafrann hakon) which has often confused the media, due to the confusing Icelandic origin.
Late in 2005 and Stafrænn Hákon is hard at work on his 5th album entitled “Gummi”. Ólafur drives up to the countryside in Iceland to meet up with his friend Lárus Sigurðsson in a church to record harps into the opening song of “Gummi”. Still there is no sign of any elf or a ghost there, the reason is simple, and there is no such thing. The delicate and subtle sound of Lárus harps spread over crunchy ambient guitars in opening tones of “Járn” and make the song one of the most complete songs Ólafur has ever written. The more acoustic alive sound on the album can be clearly heard when Birgir Hilmarsson of Blindfold and Ampop plays the last notes on the harmonium as he stands up and exits the studio in the closing track “Veggur”. The climax of the song comes with Birgir singing harmony vocals over the enormous guitar layers and crunchy drums from Daniel Lovegrove (aka Dialect). Samúel White a long time collaborator and vital part of the Stafrænn Hákon project is delivering one of his most elaborative works with his beautiful picked guitar parts. In the intense melody of “Hausi” Samúel..s guitar is sounding huge with vocals contributed from Minco Eggersman. “P-rofi” collaboration with the Danish based Efterklang ties the album together with the advanced sonic structure and subtle use of instruments. When Ólafur enters Daniel..s studio to complete the album with additional production, he knows this album is going to be the most complete and solid record he has ever done. With Daniel..s drums and production, the sound stretches to new dimension in Stafrænn Hákon..s soundworld.
After the college indie rock band “Sullaveiki Bandormurinn” disbanded in 1999, Ólafur continued experimenting with his 4-track recorder in his basement. Tapes started piling up in the drawer and finally Ólafur compiled a few songs on a CD to sell at the local record store. Stafrænn Hákon..s first album “eignast jeppa” received some hype around it..s lo-fi DIY production in 2001. Recorded on his 4-track recorder using guitar, bass, melodica and drum machine with the 5th instrument mostly being the tape hiss. The atmosphere was dreamy and laid back with thick guitar layers swirling around the lo-fi drum machine sounds. Two albums followed within the next year of the debut album. “Í ástandi rjúpunnar” and “Skvettir edik á ref” were a huge development from the lo-fi sound of “eignast jeppa”. Focusing more on ambient driven guitar layers and occasional synthesizer the two albums were more complete and the sound world was more definite for Stafrænn Hákon. Eventually all of them were reissued worldwide on 2 different labels. Resonant Records in the U.K reissued “Í ástandi rjúpunnar” and “Skvettir edik á ref”. The U.S based indie label Secret Eye reissued the debut. In 2003 Ólafur was recording material for forthcoming album to be released on Resonant. The album was later to become Stafrænn..s most successful album to date. “Ventill/Poki” received staggering reviews and was followed with a 3 week tour in the U.K in September 2004. The album was the first to be completed in a proper studio with live drums recorded and played by Daniel.
Now in late 2006 and Stafrænn Hákon has completed his 5th album and has previously toured U.K and played few festivals around Europe, his new album is ready to hit the stores and a tour to coincide the new album is in the planning stage.
“A wall of beautiful, hard-to-describe sound fills the air……..It's music of such delicacy and intricate delivery that can just turn, like that, into music of such power and ferocity” (http://www.leedsmusicscene.net/article/3123/)
Norton Antivirus, 2006