The creative partnership between visual artist and producer Unnur Andrea Einarsdóttir and Berlin DJ and pole performer FRZNTE came together intially as a commissioned work for Pop-Kultur festival in 2021. The friendship between the duo saw their “we should totally do something together” conversations become "an actual show with lights, music, movement, costumes, and most importantly a real audience," Unnur tells Best Fit.
Unnur's solo 2023 debut Elf F O won the Kraumur Music Award and was named electronic album of the year by working with FRZNTE, she writes and produces, handles vocals and creates the visual and conceptual components of their live show. "FRZNTE brings the physical language of our show to life," she adds. "Her practice focuses on movement, embodiment, and choreography." Together, their music and show are a dream-like experience that celebrates the human body and elevates female empowerment, offering a powerful and immersive experience for their audience.
Describe your sound? A mix of dance, experimental electronic pop and occasional emo ballads, focusing on loneliness and office romances. My tracks also reference anything from escapism through space travel to a moderately detached sense of doom in the light of current world events and reality in these last stages of capitalism.
And your live show? We just created a brand new version of the show and it's a banger.... because honestly, where else are you going to see electronic music, pole dance, choreography, weird visuals and a little bit of beautiful chaos all happening at once? We want you to move your body, stare, wonder what the hell is happening, and hopefully have a very good time doing it. We
you won’t just be standing there politely watching a band. Our show also contains lots of tracks from the new album, set to be released later this year.
What should we listen to first? Greatest hits on the first album is “I want to lick the eyeballs of free market capitalism”. People like it because the song meets the expectations created by the title. "Camel" is a simple track I made for a party when I was at the art academy and it was never meant to be a serious track. Its inspired by work I used to do in the service industry years back, really a process of dealing with years of difficult customers. "In the Deep" is an Enya-esque ambient space track that helped me get out of an existential crisis episode while I was completing my masters in visual art. Thinking of space and intelligent life out there calmed me down.
Who else do you rate in the Icelandic music scene right now? Gróa, Ex.girls, Ojba Rasta, Knackered, SCAM.
Tips for a first-time tourist? The local swimming pools. But you MUST shower your armpits and genitals without a swimsuit before entering, otherwise we get very annoyed! Also we have some great record shops, Lucky Records, Reykjavik Record Shop, 12 tonar and Smekkleysa.
For those with a taste for self-inflicted suffering, Skeifan awaits. Revel in the splendour of Icelandic ADHD city planning and short-sighted architecture, where next month might exist, but the year ahead who knows? You have a plot of land, some cash; most important is that you just do it and do it now, somehow. What is Skeifan you might ask? I'm not sure, to me it's chaos. But it means a lot of different things to different people. Most important is just to go there and see what it means for you!
Best late-night snack? A Palestinian place called Shawarma & Falafel on Snorrabraut. Literally the best mouthwatering falafel I have ever had in Iceland and they are super friendly! Just 3- 5 seconds away, depending on the length of your legs and dexterity, is a burger place called 2Guys. They have beers in frozen glasses and their staff is just amazing and is one of the main reasons I am a regular. Both places have really fair prices!
An Icelandic phrase you need to know is... “Heyrðu nú mig. Hva’ eretta. Svona nú, enga vitleysu! Hættið þessu væli!” – "Hear now me. What is this. Like this now, No stupidity! stop this whining!"
Follow @apex_anima and @FRZNTE on Instagram and Bandcamp