amiina to become a quintet! (01.Apr.08)
In a surprising and unexpected move, amiina recently made the following announcement on their website:
We have been busy exploring new horizons with our music, and are thrilled to announce we are no longer a quartet! Sigurrós, the 13 year old sister of our good friend Jónsi, will join us on a permanent basis on drums, an instrument she has been playing since she was three years old. We have also decided not to tour for a couple of years, we hope you all understand we can’t let our junior member’s musical career interfere with her schoolwork. We are quite excited about it all and busy rehearsing for our first shows as a quintet. YAY!
Wow!
Amiina wins Icelandic Cultural Award (10.Mar.08)
On the newswire over the weekend, Icelandic newspaper, DV Daily, announced its 2008 Icelandic Cultural Awards. Among the eight awards in categories including literature and art, amiina won the Icelandic Cultural Award in the music category.
We extend our congratulations to the girls! You deserve it.
Two Euro concert dates in Feb! (21.Jan.08)
Happy new year everyone!
amiina have been scheduled to perform at two festivals in Europe.
At the time of writing it’s not yet up on the website, but they’re scheduled to play Nordklang Festival in Sankt Gallen, Switzerland, which runs from the 15th to the 17th of February.
Also on the 15th of February, amiina will perform with Jóhann Jóhannsson, Seabear and Ólafur Arnalds at Paleis voor Schone Kunsten (Palace for Fine Arts) as part of the Iceland On The Edge festival.
If you can make it to either of these, go for it! And be sure to take some photos and come back and tell us all about it!
amiina interview by Má Fama (02.Nov.07)
Hey this is exciting! amiina undertook an interview and in-studio performance with Portuguese weekly radio show Má Fama!
It’s an hour long and quite awesome! :) Click here to check it out! Be sure to let them know on the blog if you like it, and you can also talk about it with other amiina fans in forum.
Videos from latest London gig now on YouTube (31.Oct.07)
To YouTube, Philip Hutchinson has posted two videos he recorded at the recent London show.
One is of Úgla and the other is of Lóri. They're great. Enjoy!
If you've recorded videos of amiina gigs, please let us know so we can share it with amiina fans everywhere!
EDIT: Sorry! The links weren't entered correctly! Fixed!
Hear amiina & Lee Hazlewood collaboration online (19.Oct.07)
Mentioned a couple of days ago, the collaboration between Lee Hazlewood and amiina is now available to hear online. It’s been covered on Pitchfork’s Forkcast and you can hear it on Lee Hazlewood’s MySpace page.
The song is essentially a combination of amiina’s track Hilli, with Hazlewood’s spoken word vocals layered over the top. Lovely stuff. :)
Lee Hazlewood collaborated with amiina (17.Oct.07)
It’s been revealed that legendary American musician Lee Hazlewood’s last recording was for amiina, singing as part of a collaboration with them on their next single.
More information is still forthcoming, but you’ll find out here.
New single? (06.Sep.07)
amiina's label, everrecords have briefly mentioned that amiina will be soon announcing a new single whose A-side "will feature a guest vocal appearance from one of musics biggest legends".
Any guesses as to who it might be? Speculation has already begun in the forum.
Kurr reviewed in frankie magazine (06.Sep.07)
The September/October 2007 issue of Australian magazine frankie has included a review of Kurr, recommending its readers have a listen.
The Icelandic girls, who for years toured with Sigur Ros as both their support act and strings section, have released their first full-length album. Kurr (the sound that birds make in Iceland) sees the string quartet evolve from their usual violin, viola and cello to include pretty much every string instrument available as well as the very occasional low-key vocals. It's a mesmerising sound that will hopefully not just be picked up by Sigur Ros fans. 8/10 - AN
Click here to see the review within its original context on page 114 (544k).
North American tour POSTPONED (30.Aug.07)
amiina have had to postpone their North American tour indefinitely due to illness within the band. This message was posted to their website yesterday:
We are very sorry to inform you that due to illness within the band, we have had to postpone our North American tour schedule to start in Washington DC next week. We obviously didn’t want this to happen and are very disappointed, but we will soon be over, before you know it! Thank you to those who have already bought tickets. Of course you will get a full refund, so please go to the point of purchase. However, we do have some cool things coming up, including a long tour in Europe in October. You’ll hear about the other stuff from here and our myspace first, so keep visiting us! Lots of love amiina Xx
Here’s hoping they get well soon!