Sóley

Sóley
Sóley performing in Reykjavík
Background information
Birth name	Sóley Stefánsdóttir
Born	1986 (age 30)
Origin	Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
Genres	Indie folk, Indie pop
Instruments	Vocal, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussions
Years active	2006 - present
Labels	Morr Music
Associated acts	Seabear, Sin Fang
Website	http://soleysoley.is/

Sóley Stefánsdóttir, better known simply as Sóley, is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter.

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.”