Altsounds - Introducing ... Hafdis Huld

"Singer and songwriter Hafdis Huld was born in Reykjavik, Iceland and now divides her time between the UK and Iceland. From the age of 15 she sang and toured the world with iconic Icelandic collective Gus Gus. When they weren't touring, Hafdis took time out to star in several Icelandic films.

On leaving the band she moved to London and teamed up with F C Kahuna, co-writing and performing on 'Hayling' and 'Machine Say Yes'. She later studied at the London Centre of Contemporary Music, graduating with Distinction in 2006.

Hafdis released her debut solo album 'Dirty Paper Cup' in October 2006, the result of productive collaborations with a number of highly respected co-writers including Jim Abbiss, Boo Hewerdine, Pascal Gabriel and Chris Corner. The album was universally acclaimed by the press in the UK and Europe and received national radio play on BBC Radio 1, Radio 2 and 6 Music and also won the Icelandic Music Award in early 2007 for Best Pop Album.
Following the release of the album Hafdis toured venues and festivals across the UK and Europe, taking in Glastonbury, The Secret Garden Festival, The Big Chill and Camden Crawl in the UK, Hultsfred in Sweden, Airwaves in Iceland, Spot Festival in Denmark, Les Femmes S'en Melent and Europavox in France and The Midnight Sun Festival in the Czech Republic. She supported Scottish singer Paolo Nutini on his UK tour in 2006 and in France in 2007, supported Mika in London and played music industry conferences In The City in Manchester and South By South West in America.

In between writing and performing, her recordings have been used for several TV ad campaigns and she appeared in a viral video campaign for Reyka Vodka. She is also a featured vocalist on Tricky's 2008 album 'Knowle West Boy'." - Biography taken from here official website.

Hafdis Huld

New Single and video: Kongulo

Release date: 21st June

Written by Hafdis Huld and Tom Howe

Produced by Alisdair Wright & Calum MacColl

The Plot

The pace is hotting up for Hafdis; a new single, a UK tour, a new website, a new management team, a new album under way and a rather gorgeous new hairstyle.

Last year saw Hafdis gigging in Europe, filming ad campaigns for Mercedes Benz and Reyka Vodka, and guesting on Tricky’s ‘Knowle West Boy’. By the summer she was back in the UK, writing songs for her second album and continuing her series of quirky video blogs which have developed an avid following.

The Recording

At the start of 2009 she gathered together a group of A-list musicians along with French grammy winning producer Calum MacColl, and took them to a remote studio in Yorkshire to record a bunch of new tracks. The sound they created has grown from her first album, ‘Dirty Paper Cup’, using a range of unusual instruments and percussion to provide a warm, organic, live sound.

Quote:

“It was lovely getting back into the studio. The place we recorded in was a converted barn with chickens wandering around outside. It snowed and we were all wrapped up in scarves and hats and gloves. My Mum and Dad came over from Iceland to cook for us all so it felt just like home. I think that comes across in the recording because we were all so relaxed. It was quite homely and not at all glamorous or rock and roll but I always wore a bit of glitter with my mittens!”

says Hafdis.

The Single

The first single release from these sessions is the up-beat, percussion-driven ‘Kongulo’, released on Hafdis’s own label. Kongulo is the Icelandic word for spider; the song was inspired by Frenchman Alain Robert, known as the ‘human spiderman’, who climbs skyscrapers using just his bare hands. The accompanying video (of Hafdis in the woods with a bloke in a spiderman costume) is another tongue-in-cheek classic in the vein of the award-winning video for the earlier single, ‘Tomoko’.

The Gigs

25-May Manchester - Eurocultured Festival

29-May London - Unlit Session

04-Jun London - Monkey Chews

07-Jun Bristol - Start The Bus

10-Jun Birmingham - Academy 3

11-Jun Bath - Purr at the Porter

14-Jun Reading - The Oakford

16-Jun Brighton - Freebutt

18-Jun Glasgow - Brel

20-Jun Cardiff - Barfly

21-Jun Manchester - Moho

23-Jun London - Slaughtered Lamb

25-July Secret Garden Festival

Website, Twitter and the Blog

Hafdis’s beautiful new website is here: http://www.hafdishuld.com.

You can see the videoblog of the recording, and all the other videoblogs here: http://www.hafdishuld.blogspot.com/

Hafdis will be blogging and tweeting about the progress of her single, the press campaign around it and everything that happens on tour, good and bad.

Follow her here: http://twitter.com/hafdishuld

http://www.hafdishuld.com

http://www.myspace.com/hafdishuld