rauður is the stage name of Icelandic musician and producer Auður Viðarsdóttir. Formerly a keyboardist and singer of Nóra, a renown band active in Iceland’s music scene a few years back, she has now emerged as a solo artist. Since plugging in her first synthesizer as a teenager in an old garage in her hometown Reykjavík (a Roland SH-201 to be specific), she has slowly but surely developed her own sound, merging electronic and acoustic elements into an ethereal soundscape. Perhaps in harmony with the sound of her own name, which is almost intangible for people who don’t speak Icelandic.
Her voice weaves together with eccentric beats and captivating melodies that take us through highs and lows, while her accompanying Icelandic lyrics tend to shed forth different types of disasters - sometimes pretty, sometimes crude - always fascinating.
rauður takes inspiration from everything that has struck her chords through the years, most recently artists such as Fever Ray, Beth Gibbons, Jenny Hval, Kælan mikla, David Bowie and Grimes, to name only a few.
Currently based in Malmö, Sweden, she has joined forces with the feminist electronic music collective Synth Babes, who are busy planning album releases, showcases and festivals around the world in the coming months.
p.s. rauður means red. But rauður also likes yellow very much.
Photo by Þórdís Reynisdóttir
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