This morning we welcome the latest solo project of Jófríður Ákadóttir, JFDR, as she chooses three dreamy tunes for Sunday morning in collaboration with MailTape.
Her debut solo album, Brazil, is full of minimalist soundscapes with soft tumbling guitars and haunting electronics. However mesmerizing the music might be, Jófríður Ákadóttir’s voice has a strength that’s made to seem fragile with its vibrato—like a solid pane of glass vibrating just enough not to shatter.
JFDR’s selection
Indridi – Dreamcat
JFDR: ” I would wake up from a dreamcat, the sort of dreamcat you find creeping in your subconsciousness on Sunday mornings. I would speak Icelandic to my foreign lover. I would make coffee with chinese five-spice and with every sip think about veggie pho. I would blast this song, confusedly, to the world thinking why can’t you see what I see. “
Sam Evian – Cactus
JFDR: ” On my Sunday morning I would feel too warm, no matter the season, in a winter storm with the heating so blazingly high I open the window to acquire the perfect temperature. In my warmth I feel sad, I breathe deep for the wounded, out streams contentment. Tonglen. “
Bruce Springsteen – I’m On Fire
JFDR: ” I’ve done this many times, many mornings, not just Sunday mornings—although lately Sundays have felt more like a concept man-made, representing something more spiritual than organisational, and is more fluid in my life than it is to most people. I would be sitting one afternoon, midweek or whatever it is, and be certain it was more Sunday than any other day of the week, the year or over the course of my existence. I’ve done this many times—I’ve not been able to get out of bed due to the world’s constantly shifting freshness, sometimes darkness, but mostly just groundlessness, and this song has had a particular influence: it has a drive mixed with simplicity that I’ve been so moved by I’ve forgotten about the complications of my existence and carried on. Thank you Bruce Springsteen. “
MailTape’s selection
JFDR — Instant Patience
Sanjay: ” This track simmers and broods using gasps of breaths to provide a rhythmic pulse. The lyrics were apparently taken from love letters that Jófríður Ákadóttir once received, while the music was constructed as she attempted to “channel [her] triangle” by “making a song out of three chords in a loop.” “
Bianca Rose ft. Ayanna Witter-Johnson – Because of Love
Sanjay: ” I’m pretty new to the music of Bianca Rose. This track from her debut album, No Fear Here, is a stripped back collaboration with cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson and they have some really nice vocal harmonies between them. “
Gaelynn Lea — Watch the World Unfold
Sanjay: ” A beautiful and soothing song with melancholy strings woven through, which hints at a messy individualist human experience. For our friends in the UK, Gaelynn will be performing in London, Bristol, Oxford, Dartington and Manchester this December. “
Meshell Ndegeocello – Oysters
Sanjay: ” I hadn’t listened to this track for a long time until I saw The House on Coco Road documentary, the score of which is composed by Meshell. It’s a gentle, mournful piano ballad delicately poised in the liminal space between the private and public. ”
That’s all for this morning. Thanks so much for listening and much gratitude to Jófríður Ákadóttir (JFDR) for being our guest, and to Camille Célestin for this episode’s beautiful illustration!
