We’ve written about Icelandic musician Svavar Knútur a good few times in NMR, and he’s very welcome on these pages. He’s always seemed such a happy troubadour, the type of musician who if (or when) the 4 Horsemen come riding in, would just get out his guitar and make a little new song about it, before contentedly wandering off to play his next gig, irrespective of the apocalyptic scenes around him.
Admittedly all these perceptions were founded before I discovered that, somewhat bizarrely, his favourite vegetable is broccoli, but we’ll forgive such strange preferences as long as he promises not to start advocating putting pineapple on pizza.
His new song is an acoustic version of his track ‘Morgunn’ (Morning), and interestingly it’s written with Icelandic lyrics, and we’re always in favour of featuring songs written in their native language. ‘Morgunn’ has very natural feel to it, the lyrical expression is particularly noticeable, and thankfully we even have a translation of the words into English, which saves me from making a terrible error on Google Translate.
I wouldn’t normally quote the entire lyrics, but these are just so lovely.
''A little bird secretly
cuddles beneath a stone.
Soon it will leave its nightly shelter.
A little soul quietly,
as the light wakes in the distance,
gazes towards the morning sun.
The valley mist wanes,
slumbers between hills.
Every flower greets the sun.
The glow bathes the hills,
little hearts beat faster,
to the bright music of life.
The light wakes the flames,
the soul, so tattered and cold comes a live
and meets the new day.
The mind gladdens, awakens,
the world sparkles, everything is new.
The sun opens its arms.
Embraces all.
The tall peaks of mountains
are caressed by the fingers of heaven.
The morning glow greets warmly.
A cloud retreats from the sky,
as dewdrops withdraw.
And a new world celebrates the day.
The light wakes the flames,
the soul, so tattered and cold comes a live
and meets the new day.
The mind gladdens, awakens,
the world sparkles, everything is new.
The sun opens its arms.
Embraces all.''
Fantastic right? The music is lovely and gentle too, carried along by a soothing string quartet. Listen here:
You can find Svavar Knútur in his strawberry patch, or on social media in the following places - Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.