SÓLSTAFIR announce co-headlining tour with KATATONIA in 2022

SÓLSTAFIR and KATATONIA will head out in January and February 2022 on a 31-date co-headline tour of the UK and Europe.
 
The coming together of these two revered masters of melancholy seems only natural. For over a quarter of a century both artists have favoured the emotional connection that their music brings over all else. Theirs is a world where ‘heavy’ is a force of nature; where progress comes from within, outwardly changing their musical output into something almost unrecognizable from the extreme metal that carried it in the early days. 
 
The BBC’s description of Katatonia’s “grandiose, majestic beauty” seems appropriate for both artists. It’s no coincidence that The Guardian’s take on Solstafir is equally apt: “total immersion is compulsory”. 

A full list of tour dates can be found below.

SÓLSTAFIR
w/ KATATONIA
21 Jan 22 Tullikamari (FI) Tampere
22 Jan 22 Kulttuuritalo (FI) Helsinki
23 Jan 22 Helitehas (EE ) Tallinn
25 Jan 22 Stodola (PL) Warsaw
26 Jan 22 Huxleys (DE) Berlin
27 Jan 22 Longhorn (DE) Stuttgart
28 Jan 22 Batschkapp (DE) Frankfurt
29 Jan 22 Roxy (CZ) Prague
30 Jan 22 Arena (AT) Vienna
01 Feb 22 Akvarium Klub (HU) Budapest
02 Feb 22 Backstage Werk (DE) Munich
03 Feb 22 Komplex 457 (CH) Zurich
04 Feb 22 Live Club (IT) Milan
05 Feb 22 Ninkasi Kao (FR) Lyon
07 Feb 22 Kapital (ES) Madrid
08 Feb 22 Apolo (ES) Barcelona
09 Feb 22 Metronum (FR) Toulouse
11 Feb 22 O2 Forum Kentish Town (UK) London
12 Feb 22 O2 Ritz (UK) Manchester
13 Feb 22 SWX (UK) Bristol
14 Feb 22 Garage (UK) Glasgow
15 Feb 22 KK’s Steelmill (UK) Wolverhampton
17 Feb 22 Rockhal (LU) Luxembourg
18 Feb 22 Patronaat (NL) Haarlem
19 Feb 22 Essigfabrik (DE) Cologne
20 Feb 22 Trianon (FR) Paris
22 Feb 22 Trix (BE) Antwerp
23 Feb 22 Gruenspan (DE) Hamburg
24 Feb 22 Amager bio (DK) Copenhagen
25 Feb 22 Rockefeller (NO) Oslo
26 Feb 22 Fållan (SE) Stockholm

SÓLSTAFIR will be touring in support of their latest album ‘Endless Twilight of Codependent Love’. Listen to the record below or order a copy in the Season of Mist shop HERE.

SÓLSTAFIR – ‘Endless Twilight of Codependent Love’ (Full Album Stream) 2020The cover artwork and track-list can be found below, together with the album info. The painting is a watercolour of the Lady of the Mountain, 1864, by Johann Baptist Zwecker.
Tracklist:
1. Akkeri (10:10)
2. Drýsill (08:52)
3. Rökkur (07:06)
4. Her Fall From Grace (06:36)
5. Dionysus (05:31)
6. Til Moldar (04:29)
7. Alda Syndanna (04:30)
8. Or (06:58)
9. Úlfur (08:49)

A quarter of a century after singer/guitarist Aðalbjörn “Addi” Tryggvason co-founded atmospheric Icelandic metal quartet Sólstafir, they continue to follow their cardinal rule – that there are no rules. For them, writing an epic 10-minute song without a traditional verse/chorus trade-off feels natural. While they have done two albums in English, he mainly sings in their native tongue and his vocals are as much an instrument as a vessel for words. Their videos equally showcase the band and their Icelandic world that they commune with.

And their music flows however it pleases. “Having been a metal band for a long time and gone through shoegaze, atmospheric black metal, and post rock, I just feel privileged being able to mix all my favorite genres and get away with it,” says Tryggvason.

In the world of Sólstafir, artists as varied as The Beatles, Kraftwerk, Darkthrone, Ennio Morricone, and Billy Corgan swirl inside their heads, and such influences seep into their musical ether. Funnily enough, the cover for the group’s latest album Endless Twilight of Codependent Love might remind one of a famous Smashing Pumpkins album cover.

Painted in watercolor by Johann Baptist Zwecker in 1864, The Lady of the Mountain is the female personification of Iceland. It was first published in a book of Icelandic folk tales but was never shown in public. A black and white woodblock replica by the artist is what Icelanders have known until recently when two citizens found the original hidden in a Welsh museum gallery where it had been in storage for a century. Now it is back home and adorning the cover of the new Sólstafir album.

“Everybody knows the image of the Lady of the Mountain,” declares Tryggvason. All of a sudden, the original pops up and it’s like, ‘Oh my god, these are the most beautiful colors I’ve ever seen. And why does it remind me of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness?’ So that’s purely accidental. When we saw this photo, we had to use it. It’s too beautiful.”

While early Sólstafir lyrics delved into Nordic mythology and critiques of organized religion, more recent songs explore their spiritual connection with nature, and lately, mental disorders ranging from depression to alcoholism and the taboo behind men in particular discussing those things for fear of being perceived weak.
 
“That’s the real darkness that you can’t see, but you can feel it and people around you can feel it,” explains Tryggvason. “Of course, there are serial killers and plagues and whatever through history. But in modern day life, that’s the true darkness around you. People kill themselves every day, and often people close to you who have been feeling so bad.”

He says the most personal song on Endless Twilight of Codependent Love is “Her Fall From Grace,” the lone track in English. It chronicles the pain of watching a loved one succumb to mental illness.

“It’s very sad when you love someone and you see them get sick,” muses Tryggvason. “Like Layne Staley said, ‘Slow suicide is no way to go.’ But you’re just watching on the audience bench, preparing for the phone call. ‘Hey man, Johnny’s dead.’ ‘All right, I knew Johnny was gonna die. I’ve been watching him in slow motion.’” He likens the experience to seeing a relative or parent be consumed by Alzheimer’s and turn into a different person than one remembers.

Although the band’s lyrics are predominately in Icelandic, that does not prevent outside listeners from appreciating the emotional power of their music. It has been said that many fans can feel his pain even if they do not overtly understand what he is singing about.

A beautiful moment in that regard occurred when Sólstafir played Bogota, Colombia in September 2017. It was the smallest show on their South American tour, and they presumed it would not be as lively. The 300 strong throng proved them wrong. “It felt like I was in Queen at Wembley Stadium,” Tryggvason recollects fondly. “They sang every goddamn word in Icelandic. How can you explain that?”

Such passionate reactions have not gone unnoticed in their homeland. Iceland picked Sólstafir to play a total of six events New York City, Seattle, and Toronto last fall called “Taste Of Iceland.” Tryggvason says the band enjoyed the event and their intimate industry showcases at Pianos (NYC) and Livenation (Toronto) during that same trip.

Counter-intuitive thinking has helped Sólstafir evolve and mature. The new track “Or” opens with a languid, bluesy feeling but gradually transforms into an angst-ridden, guitar-driven dirge. When they conjured their breakthrough song “Fjara” in 2011, the group feared its mellow nature might put off their longtime metal followers. Instead, they embraced it. That tune, along with the ambient, banjo-laden track “Ótta,” allowed the group to play both the Brutal Assault festival in the Czech Republic five years ago and then a family-friendly music event in the Netherlands the next weekend. The new rager “Dionysus” even features a return to their black metal roots that was not planned; the song just turned out that way over a year-long span.

“Our audience grew bigger and more diverse by us just being ourselves and doing nothing different really,” notes Tryggvason.

One of the joys for him and his bandmates – bassist Svavar “Svabbi” Austmann, guitarist Sæþór Maríus “Pjúddi” Sæþórsson, and newer drummer Hallgrímur Jón “Grimsi” Hallgrímsson, who contributed some lyrics this time out – is that their perception of how their new music will turn out never corresponds with reality. It is that unknown factor that keeps things exciting.

“You can never foresee band magic,” declares Tryggvason. “The whole purpose of this is cooking up magic. And if you’re cooking up magic with four or five weirdos, you can never foresee what’s going to happen. You can’t buy that. You have to live it or grow it.”

Recording line-up:
Aðalbjörn Tryggvason – Vocals, uitar
Sæþór M Sæþórsson – Guitar
Svavar Austmann – Bass
Hallgrímur Bárðdal – Drums

Recording: Sundlaugin Studio, Grótta
 
Mixing and mastering: Birgir Jón Birgirsson
 
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