Umsvif

Check out our new song Öldunnar tal HERE
Umsvif is an Icelandic duet formed in 2004 by Stefán Örn Viðarsson (Keybaords/Vocal) & Guðný Lára Gunnarsdóttir (Vocal/Guitar). They met, fell in love and have been composing, recording and playing music ever since. They both come from very musical backgrounds and have both studied music. Guðný on flute/piano/guitar and Stefán on organ/keyboards/piano. Their both also self tought accustic guitar players.
Guðný started writing music as a child, making up very catching melodies to the simple chords on the guitar. She was also known for her deep thought out lyrics. When she was a teenager she kept on writing and performing music on the guitar and in a brass band where she played the flute. She even recorded a few songs in a local studio but the wheels didn't start turning for real until she met Stefán in 2004. Besides singing and playing guitar in Umsvif she also sings in band called Hugsýki (www.myspace.com/hugsyki) which is, unlike Umsvif, a heavy rock band.
Guðnýs vocal influences include Joan Jett, Deborah Harry (Blondie), Dolores O'Riordan (Cranberries), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Tom Yorke (Radiohead), Janis Joplin, Johnette Napolitano (Concrete blonde).
Stefán started studying the keyboards when he was 9 years old. He also started writing music at a very early age. When he was 18 he joined his first pop/rock band and has been playing for 10 years now for at least 5 bands, both in Iceland and Canada where he lived for a couple of years. He also released an independent solo album in Canada in 2003 with his own music and vocals. Stefán also plays keyboards in Hugsýki.
Stefán influences as a keyboard player include Keith Emerson (ELP), Rick Wakeman (Yes), Jon Lord (Deep Purple), Ray Manzarek (The Doors).
When Stefán moved back to Iceland he met Guðný and they instantly noticed that their styles of music were very much alike so they combined their talents which became a much bigger whole than the two parts that they were made out of.
In 2005 and 2006 they released a couple of songs that made it to the airwaves of the radio. One song became a runner up in a music compotition held by the Icelandic national radio.
Today they keep on writing, performing and recording music with as much passion as ever before. Their performances are described as dark emotional journeys. Their voices harmonize incredibly well which creates a very soft and an emotional atmosphere.
They plan a few CD releases over the next few years with the first release in the summer of 2007.
The new CD is called Metalepsis. A word that was well suited to describe the music and the atmosphere of which it was created in.
METALEPSIS: A literary term indicating an extreme type of mixed metaphor -- the extreme compression of a sequence of allusions, tropes or other figures into an image or space normally too small to accommodate them all without sacrificing a degree of sense. ("Lepsis" derives from the Greek for "seizure.")
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