Whimsical and romantic, the music of Icelandic singer and cellist Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir blends pop, jazz, classical and bossa nova – a „mishmash,“ she calls it. Her latest album is „A Matter of Time.“
Laufey’s music may not be what you usually think of as „pop“, but if pop is short for popular, then she is indeed a pop star. The 26-year-old Icelander has earned a devoted following blending modern lyrics and music with classical and jazz. „My music is such a combination of the sounds of my childhood“, she said. „It’s just something that’s become a part of me. I wanted to make things that made me happy.
„I loved Golden Age musicals“, said Laufey. „I’d watch ‚Carousel‘ and ‚Oklahoma‘ and ‚American in Paris‘ and ‚Sound of Music.‘ They were so beautiful and had these dance breaks and the dresses were floating and the colors – that feeling I got from that, I just wanted to create that feeling.“
The world she inhabits (in her work, anyway) is whimsical and romantic, full of windswept cliffs, frilly dresses and bows … and cello, almost always cello.
Watch Laufey perform „I Wish You Love“ with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra:
She says the cello is „as important to me as my voice. And I think it’s really what makes a Laufey song a Laufey song.“
Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir comes by it naturally. Her Icelandic father introduced her to jazz when she was a girl; her Chinese mother played classical violin. So does Laufey’s identical twin sister.
Growing up, she said, she felt different: „Everyone was like, you know, going to play soccer after school or dance, and I was sitting down and playing music from the 17th century. And then on top that I was a twin, identical twin.
