Sóley

Sóley Stefánsdóttir (born 20 October 1987), better known simply as Sóley, is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter.

Career

Sóley studied classical and jazz style piano as a child and later went to the Icelandic Art Academy to study composition to become a proficient pianist and guitarist. Although hailing from Iceland, she sings primarily in English both in her solo and group work. She became part of the seven-piece Icelandic indie-folk band, Seabear, in 2006. Signed to the record label, Morr Music, the band have so far released two albums and an EP, on which Sóley predominantly provides piano and backing vocals.

Under the same label, Sóley released her first solo EP in 2010, titled ''Theater Island''. The following year, she went on to release ''We Sink'', her first full-length album. Critical response was largely positive, with praise often aimed at the "delightful and beautiful" piano play and the delicate vocal delivery. The songwriting was also celebrated for its "dream-like" quality and "dark surrealism". Sóley herself described her lyrics as "Dreamy, surrealistic and in their own world", expressing her hope that listeners will decipher their own meaning from the words. In 2013, a track from the album, ''Fight Them Soft'', was used in the soundtrack to an episode of the E4 comedy-drama ''Misfits''.

A piano album composed and performed entirely by Sóley, entitled ''Krómantík'', was released on 18 July 2014 along with sheet music and illustrations to accompany each of the pieces. About the album, Sóley elaborated, "I always wanted to do a piano album, ever since I was in the art academy," she explains. "Some of the pieces on Krómantík were written while studying – and the first track ‘Stiklur’, for example, was originally part of a bigger composition for piano that I wrote. However, in the end I didn't use that many pieces from school, just because I liked doing new songs, and so a lot of them were written for a bigger art project I worked on during the summer after I finished We Sink." She further described the mood of the album, stating, "In the night or when it’s cold and rainy outside, sit in a chair in your living room and listen. If you feel like it, move a little. Imagine a little out-of-tune piano in one corner, then imagine old hands. Those old hands have a story to tell. Those hands are almost unreal but it’s hard to tell only by listening. Those hands will play until Krómantík fades into silence and your closed eyes slowly start seeing something much deeper and darker."

Her second LP, ''Ask the Deep'', was released on 8 May 2015. To promote the new material, she made appearances at various festivals, including ''ATP Iceland'', ''Rauðasandur Festival'' and Iceland Airwaves in 2014. Sóley then embarked on another extensive European tour and released a new EP, ''Don't Ever Listen''. The 5 tracks were initially recorded as early demos for her second album and though dismissed by the singer at first because she wanted the album to have less guitar presence, she was convinced to compile and release them by her boyfriend. There are also plans for a further two EPs that will each focus on a different instrument - accordion and organ respectively - that together with the piano based ''Krómantík'' will form something of a trilogy.

Sóley's third LP, ''Endless Summer'', was released in May 2017, and a European tour was announced in support of the new material. Throughout the same year, she is also taking part in a collaborative project with fellow Icelandic artists, Sin Fang and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason (from the band Múm), which sees the trio release a new song each month, making twelve in total, and released as ''Team Dreams'' in 2018

Personal life

Sóley was born in Hafnarfjörður, a small town outside of Reykjavík. She finds her writing inspiration mostly from poets and comes from a musical family, with her father being a trombone player and music teacher. Her younger brother, Eiríkur, and younger sister are also musicians.

She now lives in the capital with her husband, Jón gamli úr Niðurkoti. She took a brief break from recording and touring when she gave birth to her first daughter in March 2014. Sóley has been vegan since her daughter was born.

Discography

Seabear

;Studio albums
* ''The Ghost That Carried Us Away'' (2007, Morr Music)
* '' We Built a Fire'' (2010, Morr Music)

;Extended plays
* ''While the Fire Dies'' (2010, Sound of a Handshake)

;Singles
* ''Teenage Kicks / Piano Hands 7"'' (2007, Morr Music)
* ''Lion Face Boy / Cold Summer 7"'' (2009, A Number of Small Things)
* ''Waterphone'' (2019, Morr Music)

Solo

;Studio Albums

;Extended Plays

;Compilations

;Singles
* "Pretty Face" (2012)
* "Ævintýr" (2015)
* "Follow Me Down" (2015)
* "Halloween" (2015)
* "Don't Ever Listen" (2015)
* "Never Cry Moon" (2017)
* "Grow" (2017)
* "Sunrise Skulls" (2021)
* "Circles" (Accordion Version) (2021, recorded 2018)
* "Parasite" (Extended Version) (2022)

;Singles (with Sin Fang and Örvar Smárason)
* "Randon Haiku Generator" (2017)
* "Love Will Leave You Cold" (2017)
* "Wasted" (2017)
* "Black Screen" (2017)
* "Slowly" (2017)
* "Citrus Light" (2017)
* "Tennis" (2017)
* "Space" (2017)
* "Used & Confused" (2017)
* "Go To Sleep Boy" (2017)
* "The Sun Will Go Out" (2017)
* "Dream Team Party Kids" (2017)
* "Imaginary Love" (2021)
* "Calling for Your Touch" (2021)
* "Shame" (2021)
* "Mandatory Love Story" (2021)
* "Where the Maps Run Out" (2021)
* "Tell Your New Lovers" (2021)
* "Today I Wrote Nothing" (2021)
* "Lake with No Name" (2021)
* "I Run Deep" (2021)
* "Mothership" (2021)
* "Dream is Murder" (2021)
* "Afterparty" (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soley
Living people
Icelandic folk singers
People from Hafnarfjörður
1987 births
Icelandic women singer-songwriters
21st-century Icelandic women singers
Morr Music artists