[Silva & Steini Photo credit to Anna Maggý]
Filmmaker and author Scott Blum has announced his next venture, FOUND, a US-based independent record label focusing on the contemporary music scene of Iceland. The label’s first signings include Jazz vocal duo Silva & Steini, composer Magnús Jóhann, and punk band GRÓA.
FOUND is marking the occasion with the release of the music video for Silva & Steini’s “If It Was” from their debut album More Than You Know. The track was written by Alan Hampton (Andrew Bird, Fiona Apple, Sufjan Stevens, etc.). The video is directed by Icelandic visual artist Anna Maggý and was shot in black & white at the unique “Library of Water” location in Stykkishólmur, Iceland, a fine art installation by Roni Horn featuring large tubes of water from glaciers around Iceland. The lyrical themes of the song are “memory, loss and rebirth”.
More Than You Know is available to stream now and will have its physical release on CD and vinyl on August 18th, 2023.
Steini shares:
We liked the idea of interpreting these songs with as few elements as possible, but in a way that feels very lush—sort of like how an extreme close-up in film allows for much more intimacy and detail. We also found that the Wurlitzer took up space in a different and much fresher way than jazz piano, and almost felt more like electric guitar.
Steini is also a prolific musician who came to prominence for his work with the bands Of Monsters and Men and being the co-lead singer and songwriter for Icelandic band Moses Hightower.
More about FOUND:
A first-of-its-kind boutique record label, FOUND emerged from a moment of life-altering fascination for CEO Scott Blum. After spending a month in Iceland in summer 2022 and immersing himself in the country’s intensely vibrant arts scene, the entrepreneur and music-industry veteran felt called to amplify the outreach of the truly singular musical acts he’d discovered there. Within several months he’d begun building up the roster to FOUND, signing artists distinct in sound and style but linked by their unfettered creativity. Blum found himself floored by the sheer volume of creative energy in such a sparsely populated country. Along with noting a nearly religious devotion to the arts among the Icelandic people, Blum observed that most of the musicians he encountered held a categorical disregard for genre conventions and commercial ambitions alike.
