Some may think it’s rather strange to feature Sólveig Matthildur in 2025 given she hasn’t released any new music since 2020. But this is the year I finally discovered her, and I haven’t been this excited about an artist in a very long time!
In truth, she was hiding in plain sight behind the keyboards of Kælan Mikla, one of my two favourite bands of all time. Why I never explored her solo work before remains a mystery. Given that it’s been a difficult year since my autistic son had a bit of a breakdown, perhaps the universe was holding her music back from me until I really needed it?
The Voice
Her voice is divine. I hear echoes of Liz Fraser’s ethereal phrasing and Claudia Brücken’s dramatic precision—praise I don’t offer lightly. But there’s more: her back catalogue reveals remarkable flexibility, whether deploying her voice as pure texture or delivering crystal-clear vocals. On later tracks like “Last Date”, “Politician of Love”, Window” and “Venus”, her Icelandic accent transforms already irresistible songs into absolute bangers.
Watching footage of her 2019 show at Shacklewell Arms gig in London back in 2019, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t know her music at the time. There are only a handful of artists I’d travel to London for, and currently only 1 I’d go to London to watch singing live over a backing track on their laptop. Her voice really is that special!
The Discovery
What made me finally listen to her music?
Well, we promoted Kælan Mikla’s headline show at Arts Club Liverpool (An absolute honour and a privilege!) afterwards we all went to a bar, and after chatting to her briefly, she seemed really cool and quirky, and it made me curious whether her personality is reflected in her music?
It made me realise that perhaps (hopefully) the threat of AI replacing musicians is exaggerated.
After all, we are interested in humans – their stories and life journey.
Who wouldn’t want to sit down and listen to Sólveig talking about growing up in Iceland, traveling the world with Kælan Mikla, Robert Smith of The Cure personally inviting them to play his festival, and of course, her musical process and how she comes up with these amazing ideas – what music inspires her and so on. (though to be honest I didn’t ask her about any of those things, bands want to relax after a show, and might not appreciate me asking loads of questions and going “I’m not worthy” every 5 minutes, need to keep the balance between fan and professional on the side of the latter)
On the other hand, who would want to sit down with a cloud computer running AI software to find out the statistics and patterns it used to determine which real songs it’s ripped off and why? Me neither!
It’s like when I first read about Abba Voyage, I was scared for the future of live music. You can imagine the money-men getting moist at the prospect of putting old bands virtually on stage in every major city in the world simultaneously, several times a day, for as long as people will pay, without touring costs etc.
Actually going to the event put my mind at rest. I enjoyed it, it was fun, I love the fact that they built an arena especially for it, and the bar prices were normal East London bar prices, and whilst I like them but aren’t a massive fan, seeing people who love Abba having the time of their life was the real highlight. But it was a concert movie. Not a gig. Not even close.
Life is too short to worry about what might happen to music. As long as there are talented artists like Sólveig / Kælan Mikla, the future will be absolutely fine.
Music is art. Art is Human.
The Music
The stunning debut album “Unexplained miseries & the acceptance of sorrow” was released way back in 2016 on 6th December – making it 9 years old by the time you read this. So I really am late to this particular party.
But it came along at just the right time as it’s really helping me through a difficult situation.
My 11 year old autistic son has always had issues, but at the start of the year he was going to school, had lots of friends, had just started walking home from school on his own, and was due to start high school in September. But around Easter, possibly due to anxiety over the SATs, he had a breakdown where he refuses to leave the house, he fell out with his best friend, and because of his selective mutism he won’t talk to strangers, so professionals can’t do much to help, and I really feel out of my depth, not knowing the best way to help him back.
It’s a difficult, heartbreaking situation, and on the day I bought “Unexplained miseries & the acceptance of sorrow” from Bandcamp, I was feeling particularly overwhelmed as my partner had left to go offshore with work for 2 weeks, so I was pretty much confined to the house without seeing another adult for a fortnight.
When he was asleep, I popped in my airpods, pressed play, and by the end of the glorious 40 minutes, I don’t know what alchemy she puts in there – perhaps the Kælan Mikla witchy thing isn’t just an aesthetic? But I felt amazing, like a weight had been lifted!
I think it’s because, to my ears at least, there are elements of some of my all-time favourite artists – Massive Attack, Portishead, Cocteau Twins, Emika, and even Propaganda and Lemon Jelly to a point (Just needs a bit of Skating Polly 😉 ).
But it’s no mere imitation of other artists, they are no doubt in it’s DNA but this is a fresh, exciting album that so floods your brain with endorphins and demands your complete attention that it doesn’t have time to think about negative stuff, and so by it’s end it’s transported you to a better place, with a clarity of mind where you can actually solve problems instead of getting stressed by them.
On this occasion for example I realised that if my son won’t speak to professionals, then all I can do is learn how the autistic mind works, and try to communicate with him in more effective ways. Perhaps obvious, but wasn’t to me before. Small steps, but already making progress.
I’ve got into the habit of listening to the album before I go to bed, and it really helps relax me and get a better sleep.
I’m always fascinated by why people like the music they do.
For example, I’m curious whether the influences I think I hear in her music are the bands that indeed did influence her, or whether the bands that influenced her, either influenced or were influenced by the bands I hear? Maybe the songs I hear and the songs that did influence her, are several generations of artist influence apart? Am I overthinking this? Is it weird to wonder such things?
She mentioned on Instagram that Massive Attack is her favourite band, so that one’s a given.
I became friends with a guy I met at my first Skating Polly gig as he is a massive fan too, and then a few weeks later when I was thinking of going to see Kælan Mikla for the first time and saw he was on the “going” list, I asked him if they were any good, when he said they were his favourite band and he runs their facebook fan page, I knew he was a man of excellent taste, so I went to the gig, and of course they became one of my favourite bands.
We are often on the same wavelength musically – we were both into Beach Bunny for a while, Krakow Loves Adana too.
So I was shocked to learn he doesn’t like Massive Attack or Portishead (but likes Cocteau Twins).
But then I was thinking about my own journey with these bands.
First time I was aware of either band, was when I saw the video for Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack on MTV. I wasn’t keen to be honest, and I kind of ignored the whole Bristol/Triphop scene initially.
It was when I moved to London, after splitting up with my ex-wife, living in a bedsit not really knowing anyone, spending my weekends going to random tube stations having a wander to see what was there, that I heard Glory Box by Portishead on the radio. It really summed up how I felt at the time (lonely, albeit optimistic with a strange melancholy kind of happiness if that makes sense) I bought the album and loved it.
I obviously hadn’t noticed when I lived in Edinburgh, but when I moved to London I saw the video for Missing by Everything But The Girl on a pub juke box, and realised Tracey walks past my then local tube station (Clapham South) and past the Chinese Takeaway where I had my tea from most nights (it was much better than the one across the road which was called Hoover, me and my neighbour used to joke that their food was like the contents of the Hoover, how we laughed), and the street she walks down was the one down from mine, near Balham.
Focusing on that, and telling my mum on the phone about it, I realised what a great song it was, bought the CD Single and Walking Wounded, which got me really into EBTG for a while. So when I heard the title track off Protection by Massive Attack I bought the album and loved it.
Obviously being a huge Cocteau Twins fan, I had to buy Mezzanine when I heard Teardrop. It took me a little bit longer to get into the rest if that album, but I got there!
And later on, my best friend in London was from Bristol, so when I went round his place he was often listening to the Bristol scene, so that kind of cemented it for me, I bought Blue Lines and loved it.
So whilst Kælan Mikla had me hooked upon the first listen of “Kalt” and Sólveig had me hooked upon the first listen of “Unexplained miseries I” (once I finally got around to listening) my path to liking Massive Attack took a lot more twists and turns!
Now I love Massive Attack, my 11th most listened to artist of this year, and a real highlight of last year was seeing them at the M&S Bank Arena with some Glastonbury friends, icing on the cake was Liz Fraser being with them.
But I wonder, if I hadn’t moved to London, would I ever have gotten into Massive Attack or Portishead, and if I hadn’t, would I appreciate Sólveig’s music as much as I do? He loves it, even though he doesn’t like Massive Attack or Portishead.
Sorry if that was a bit boring (yes, I’m lots of fun at parties 😉 ), I’m fascinated by that stuff 🙂
Anyway, this is one of the few albums that makes me frustrated that I’m not a better music writer – I really wish I could articulate just how good it is!
The opener “Unexplained miseries I” evokes Victorialand-era Cocteau Twins—in that it has a similar balance of melancholy (that reflects your mood) and brightness (like a hug from a loved one promising things will improve). Back in the day, I always turned to Victorialand after breakups and so on, and it got me through some rough times.
This track works equally well for the feeling of loss when your son is withdrawn and you don’t know how to help him.
The closing track “Acceptance of sorrow III “carries hints of Propaganda. Since A Secret Wish remains my favourite album of the eighties, that connection really gelled too.
It’s definitely an album to listen to as a whole, but if a single was to be released from it, then track #2 “Unexplained miseries II” would be the obvious one.
The second album “Constantly in Love” has similar influences to the debut, yet it has more variety and feels more ambitious.
Whilst the debut is quite intense and the kind of album you want to listen all the way through when you can spend some quality time with it, “Constantly in Love” feels more accessible, an album you can dip into, and indeed you could choose any track at random as any track on the album could easily be released as a single, the quality never drops for a single moment.
Choosing a favourite track is difficult, different tracks keep jumping out at me on each listen, but at the moment it’s “My Father Taught Me How to Cry” and “Dystopian boy” as my favourites.
Here’s a handy track-by-track meanings from Solveig herself in the Reykjavik Grapevine.
I’m always drawn to artists unafraid to experiment. Whilst I hear Massive Attack, Portishead and Cocteau Twins in the 2 albums, The final (so far?) singles are a complete change of direction – pure slices of Scandi-pop so infectious that ABBA probably wish they’d written them. “Last Date”, “Politician of Love”, “Window” and “Venus” come with gloriously kitsch videos (and I mean that as a compliment), and if the songs don’t give you goosebumps or aren’t still stuck in your head days later, you might want to speak to a doctor, or perhaps an undertaker as there’s a good chance you are already dead.
I’ve never been a massive Abba fan, but they are a lot of fun, and I did enjoy Mama Mia, and Abba Voyage (and relieved that it’s not the future of gigs, more like a fancy concert movie). So when using Abba as a point of reference, I’m certainly not being derogatory, far from it!
I’m eternally hopeful that one day she releases a whole album of these kind of songs, realistically after five years of silence, it seems unlikely—but who knows?
Looking through Sólveig’s music page on Facebook, playing catchup, I spotted lots of people in the comments that I recognise from Skating Polly fan pages. I saw lots of bands in 2019 – I was photographing 3-4 shows a week back then, I think I only saw 2 bands the whole year that I didn’t like (no, I’m not going to name them!) saw lots of great bands, and yet the 2 that really grabbed me were Skating Polly and Kælan Mikla.
Loads of other Skating Polly fans love Kælan Mikla too (doesn’t always happen in the other direction, lots of KM fans are goths who don’t stray too far from the dark path) and beyond being amazing, I’ve always wondered what it is specifically that makes us choose those 2 bands over all the others?
And suddenly it clicked when Laufey posted her Unwrapped yesterday and her most listened to artist is Charli XCX (saw her at Glastonbury, she was excellent).
I don’t think you can truly love music if you only like a very narrow genre. Seeing Laufey’s unwrapped and Sólveig’s solo material, made me realise that both SP and KM are driven by a deep rooted love of music.
Both started out with natural talent (in their biopic Exene Cervenka said that whilst SP were only 11 and 16 when she saw them live, they weren’t just good for a pair of kids, they were just good – KM IIRC won a poetry contest before forming the band), Both bands have lots of experience (SP: 16 years writing, recording and performing – spending school holidays jamming in the basement when they were teenagers, probably one of the most experienced bands in the world, no wonder people say things like “It’s like seeing a stadium band in your local boozer” after a show, KM 12 years) Both bands have a close bond (SP: Step siblings – sometimes when I photograph them I notice almost like a telepathy between Kelli and Peyton, KM: I believe school friends, they certainly seem close – when people get selfies with them, usually all 3 are present, with a lot of bands when I buy vinyl and try to get it signed by everyone in the band, there’s a definite tension from being on the road) Both bands do intensive European tours (A couple of tours ago SP did 30 dates in 32 days – their TM said it’s remarkable how pitch perfect they are at every show, KM current tour 28 dates in a month, looking at the distances on Google maps they must have to travel through the night sometimes, I’ve no doubts they were amazing on every date). I think all these things come through in the music and performance, that makes them several cuts above other bands I’ve seen.
Anyway, you can analyse things too much, but clearly there’s more to why so many of us love these 2 specific bands so much, beyond me going on the SP forums saying “You’ve got to check out Kælan Mikla, they are amazing!”
The Silence
I can’t find any official explanation for why Sólveig stopped releasing solo music. It isn’t lack of interest—comments on Bandcamp, YouTube, and reviews confirm that plenty of people love her work as passionately as I do. Perhaps Kælan Mikla consumes all her time? Or maybe the melancholy in her songs comes from a genuine place of suffering, and now she’s in a better place and doesn’t want to go back? That would certainly be a nice reason, that I could get on board with.
I’ve thought about firing a message over to her once the Kælan Mikla tour ends and she’s had time to recover, to ask if there’s any chance of future releases. But even if she has time to reply (I can’t keep on top of my messages and I don’t even have any fans), do I really want confirmation? Without it, I can hold onto a sliver of hope that new material might yet appear…
In a parallel universe where artists success is based on talent, she’d be one of the biggest artists on the planet.
Thankfully she continues to enthrall us as an essential part of Kælan Mikla. Long may she do so!
Why not have a listen for yourself? There’s no such thing as a universally liked artist – even in Liverpool I know lots of people who hate The Beatles. Your mileage may vary, but who knows? Maybe your new favourite artist is at the other end of this hyperlink? Shouldn’t you at least take the time to find out?
solveigmatthildur.bandcamp.com
Cover Photo taken at Kælan Mikla Studio 2 Liverpool, 14th November 2019 by John W. King
Words: John W. King
