Back from Icelandic Inspirations
A quick journey to the 66th parallel on the hunt for songs
My family and I just returned from a very inspirational trip to Iceland. I told my wife that it was a bucket list trip for me to go there someday and coincidentally the very next day the band Wilco announced that they were going to host a 3-night residency in the Harpa Music Hall in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. We jumped on it and decided to book the trip and bring our two kids.
I’ve had the privilege to travel all over the world through out my life but Iceland and the nordic have not made my itinerary yet. This made it extra fun to experience something new at the same time with my kids.
My wife and I are among the group of Wilco fans who travel to see them play and experience the sights, tastes and views of the hosting city. I decided that this experience of new sights and experiencing new customs would help me compose new music material. I think we did everything that
and family posted about aside taking a dip in the Blue Lagoon. The Easter holiday limited some activities. But we certainly got the most out of our journey.While on the trip I took a notepad and wrote down inspirational thoughts. I also used the Freeform app to make a post it and photo trail of things that sparked my interests. I have discovered a treasure trove of song material that seemed to be centered on the culture and life of the brutal Vikings settlers during the year of 872 and present day Icelandic people. Waterfalls going up and rainbows all around you at every glance. I was drawn to the raw natural beauty of the wind blown landscape that is surprisingly uninhibited by wild animals aside arctic foxes and imported minks that got free from cages. I enjoyed the punk influenced streets of downtown - and the delicious graffiti.
These are sea-fairing people with a bounty of ocean stories and food. They are a warm but rugged people in rugged lands with proud hearts about their home and heritage - and not ashamed to roll eyes to the slightly ignorant visitors. My favorite collections of notes revolve around the folk stories of the nordic people - the mountain demons, witch stories and fables of trolls and elves. Also the stories of medieval times where the vikings created order and unity with themselves while on lands that are literally ripping apart underneath their feet at the tectonic plates. Stories of lava, blood and ice that all were envisioned while rolling along the countryside in a tour bus.
I have a lot of notes that I need to unpack but am very excited to have new material to work with on new songwriting journeys in my immediate future.
