Amid sadness and despair, there can be light and happiness. But managing to capture both of those moods in the span of a few minutes of a song is challenging to say the least. Icelandic indie folk singer Svavar Knútur has managed to create a beautiful dichotomy of range and emotions with a Double-A side release: the hauntingly aching “While The World Burns (Repainted)” and the gear-changing, adventurous “November,” both from Ahoy! Side B and also found on his double-album Ahoy!
Knútur creates a truly stunning cinematic masterpiece during “While The World Burns (Repainted).” Its cinematic feel musically is only outdone by the duet Knútur has with Norwegian vocalist (and actor) Helene Bøksle. The track instantly brings to mind The Swell Season, the tandem of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová who earned an Academy Award for Best Song for “Falling Slowly” from the motion picture Once. Ironically, the original version of “While The World Burns” was issued back in 2012 on his album Ölduslóð (Way of Waves) with Knútur and Irglová performing a duet on the song.
As stunning as “While The World Burns (Repainted)” is, Knútur is at his creative best on “November.” The song, written by Knútur, initially recalls the iconic Nick Drake for its sparseness, relying on Knútur’s voice and acoustic guitar work as strings emerge off in the distance. About two minutes in, things take a musical detour with the pace picking up and an urgency beginning to surface. Here, the song blooms into a gorgeous, head-bobbing, pop-driven effort, bringing to mind groups such as The War On Drugs or Frightened Rabbit.
“A love song to a month much maligned, ‘November’ conjures a portrait of a dark and melancholic but also stormy and transformative month,” the artist says of the song. “The longing for summers past, but also the inescapable trajectory into the strange beauty of midwinter, ending with the embracing of the turning wheel of time.”
A lyric video for “November” was also released in October, showing a majestic landscape that moves through the seasons, from snowy roads in the winter months to the golden sunsets in the summer. Knútur’s face is transposed on the images of snow on branches and Iceland’s rugged but mesmerizing terrain also displayed.
“While The World Burns (Repainted),” written, composed, and produced by Knútur, features him on vocals, piano and guitar alongside Bøksle on vocals. Fleshing out the rich arrangement is Örn Ýmir Arason on bass and synthesizers, Bassi Olafsson on percussion, cellist Unnur Helgadóttir, Karl James Pestka on viola and Sigrún Kristín Jónasdóttir on violin. Arason, Helgadóttir, Pestka and Jónasdóttir play the same instruments on “November,” also written by Knútur but produced by Olafsson (who plays drums and percussion on the track). For “November” Knútur is on vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and synthesizers while pianist and keyboardist Stefán Örn Gunnlaugsson also appears.
Both double-A singles are from Ahoy! Side B, “the final chapter of a fifteen year-long project exploring the world of grief” which follows the release of Ahoy! Side A back in 2018, the latter earning him two Icelandic Music Awards for Best Album and Singer of the Year. The two offerings were thus combined earlier in 2024 into Ahoy!, providing closure to the project while “serving as an independent story.”
Knútur says the album, which features five songs reworked or “repainted” from earlier releases, isn’t quite as gloomy as some might anticipate. “Contrary to common expectations, the story is not as dark as some people might think, as the journey through grief is also a journey of discovery of light, love, beauty, gratitude, and purpose.”
Knútur recorded the album in Iceland with help from a bevy of national and international musicians (including singer Irish Mythen) who sent their pieces via files for him to piece together. Although using various locations to record in Iceland, Knútur used his friend’s studios and his own living room for most of the recording sessions featuring songs ranging from minimal instrumentation to lush, orchestral flavorings.
“While The World Burns (Repainted)” and “November” are the latest offerings in a fine career for Knútur who calls the northern city of Akureyri, Iceland home (a roughly five-hour drive northeast of Reykjavik). Full-length albums include 2009’s Kvöldvaka (Songs by the Fire), 2010’s Amma (Songs for my Grandmother), 2012’s Ölduslóð (Way of Waves) and 2015’s Brot (The Breaking). Meanwhile EP releases include 2015’s Songs of Weltschmerz, Waldeinsamkeit and Wanderlust and 2020’s Bil/Between. His influences range from Nick Drake, Will Oldham, and the late Kris Kristofferson to the late Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and Nick Cave, among others.
Although primarily performing in Europe as he prefers to travel almost exclusively by train, Knútur will play Montreal in February 2025 as part of Folk Alliance International. It’s proof his music is reaching both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. Now with the delicate but divine “While The World Burns (Repainted)” and the pop-friendly and thrilling “November” on everyone’s radar, look for Svavar Knútur to continue making timeless, thoughtful, and terrific music.
