Finding his own voice, Julia is a significant breakthrough for Ásgeir. The lyrics, for the first time, are totally his own. In the past his songs have been based on the poetry of his father, Einar Georg Einarsson, with English translations provided by people like American ex-pat John Grant (who moved to Reykjavik in 2013 where he met Ásgeir). The results of this new lyrical approach reveal a man who has contemplated past regrets and finds hope for the future guided by Julia, his newest work’s title character.
Writing in English, Ásgeir revisits his past with an unflinching eye. ‘Against the Current’ finds him reclaiming his own sense of being, rather than living off expectations of others. “I’vе been in a battle/ Waging wars on the inner mе/ I’m the hero and the enemy.” Finding his way against an insistent drum pattern that merges with a brass arrangement by Samuel Jón Samúelsson, he discovers he can finally see himself clearly, removed from the chains of expectation there is a pathway to the possibility of real change.
A sense of melancholy fills ‘Smoke’ as he notes the loss of his own inner voice. Through the piano, acoustic guitar and banjo, Ásgeir reveals how he felt a kind of desperation stemming from not being able to discern his own thinking. He admits, “I felt like I had gone against it so much that it stopped speaking to me.” The music aches as minimal production adds to the sense of disconnection.
There are also moments of hope that better days lie ahead. ‘Ferris Wheel’ finds a quiet optimism, abandoning familiar paths for long held beliefs. “It’s about dreaming again, something I had stopped allowing myself to do.” Soft keyboards provide the bed to this new way of thinking as he imagines a better, slower life by the sea.
Steel guitar transports ‘Universe’, evoking the thoughts of Julia before she walks into a lake leading to the albums emotional centerpiece, ‘Julia’. Working off an Icelandic poem, it tells of a woman returning from the dead to reunite with her former lover. Cinematic, yet intimate, it blurs lines between myth and memory while using little more than an acoustic guitar.
Gently, ‘Sugar Clouds’ takes a 7/8 time signature and turns it into a sweet samba of satisfaction. As Ásgeir sings we can feel how beautiful life can be. “Basking in the sun with our eyes closed/Barefoot in the grass flowers between our toes/ You ask me what my heart wishes for/ But truthfully I don’t need anything more.” What more can one really ask for?
Julia finds Ásgeir taking stock of where he has been, while charting a path forward. Writing from his heart, using simplicity as a strength, he gives voice to walking roads where dreams become reality.