Surrendering “to the flow of the motherfucking universe”

The chemistry between Abel van Gijlswijk and Yousef Gnaoui catches you completely off-guard, as the duo behind IJsland descend into collective madness on their newest record – also mysteriously titled IJsland. ‘I’d like to have a revolution, but everyone is too busy shopping’, the English line breaks the Dutch flow on M/V/X, embodying the anarchy and the playfulness of the whole project. Abel’s unfiltered edge and Sef’s more paced digressions throw sharp social commentary while managing to poke fun at itself, perfectly reflecting the state of political absurdism we’re witnessing. As we catch up with the pair right after their performance at Lowlands, they reveal themselves as exactly what they are – two artists in complete creative trustfall, unafraid of what anyone thinks. 

How did the show go?

 A: Amazing! I think we killed it. And I feel people loved it. No reservations at all.

S: We’re fully convinced that it was a great show. And nobody can tell us otherwise. 

What was it like to play together?

A: Yeah, it was really fun. 

S: And if some moment in the show is weird or anything, you can just laugh it off. It’s no problem because we’re just laughing. 

A: Yeah, he forgot his lyrics, and I thought it was really funny. 

Was this the first time you played together since the release of IJsland? 

A: No, we played one show at Down the Rabbit Hole.

S: It was legendary. The stakes were very high, and everybody was expecting a lot, including me. It was something else, yeah.

Talk us through how your musical paths brought you together and inspired this collaboration. How did you meet, first of all? 

A: I don’t know.

S: Through friends, or just the Amsterdam music scene. Maybe… Yeah. It’s vague.

A: We’ve known each other for a long time, but vaguely, and then at one point we made a song together, but we didn’t even record in a studio.

So how did that turn into a whole album?

S:  Because the first time we did go into the studio together, we noticed chemistry, like instant chemistry. We just went back to back.

A: You can often make music with somebody else, but it’s rarely so effortless and automatic. 

S: We don’t really speak. We just do it. 

A: There’s a lot of trust.

How does that work lyric-wise then?

A: The same. I think we just approach it from different angles, but it comes together very naturally. 

S: We like a lot of the same things, and are both enthusiastic about trying different ideas.

A: We like weird rap music. Weird, edgy rap music.

S: And there’s ambition – not about a career necessarily, but ambition in the sense of wanting to try really crazy, big things. All while keeping a voice of what you want to tell.

Where does that voice come from for both of you?

A: It comes from all the work outside of the studio. Just looking at the world, talking about life, politics, whatever… And then when you’re in the studio, you don’t have to speak about that. That’s just the baggage that’s in there. You could just make a love song, but you don’t.

S: I think every song is a love song. 

A: True, if it’s from the heart, it’s a love song.

S: If you don’t care about something, it’s not going to be a good song. 

A song doesn’t have to be about love, but you put love into it. 

A: Yeah, there are a lot of underlying messages in the album.

S: Yeah, but they are there not consciously. It’s just like all kinds of shit we’ve talked about before. But you do choose to do it, because it’s not a question of choice, really. 

A: It has to happen. Some things you have to express.

Do you think it is important to speak out as an artist?

S: I think it’s everybody’s own choice. It’s important to say whatever’s on your mind or your heart. You shouldn’t hold back, but if it’s not there, then you don’t have to force it.

A: If you’re not interested or have a point of view about the world or something, you don’t have to try to make a political song because people expect it from you. But if you do, you want to talk about it, and have an opinion or a point of view, I don’t think you should be scared to try it. You shouldn’t censor it.

S: Say whatever you feel about it. Don’t try to explain it. What do you feel about the thing that you’re talking about? That’s the most important thing. 

A: And then you can never be wrong, because it’s just the way you feel. Musicians aren’t journalists. It’s very much intuition.

Is this intuition also the reason you created the album in such a short amount of time?

S: Yeah, it’s all about pure intuition. Just channel it directly. Don’t think about it.

A: If this is what comes to mind, just fucking put it out there. That’s definitely also where the magic of the album comes together.

S: Yes, for sure. We started with song one and we made it in four days.

A: Every idea was welcome. Let’s try it. There was no “no”s.

How did this process go then?

A: We went to a secluded place, with Faisal, our producer. 

S: And we had two vague ideas. Firstly, we wanted to make music that sounds angular. Straight lines.

A: Chopped like a collage or something. And the other idea was just to make it in sequence. So start at the beginning and then figure out what we would like to hear next.

S: So we would make one song. Think, what would be cool to hear after this? And repeat until it was done. 

And how did the production tie into this? 

A: It was completely Faisal. We both have a lot of production ideas so there are always suggestions. 

S: The same way we trust each other with the lyrics, we also trust Faisal with his production choices. I think that’s the whole thing.

A: Giving each other space. Giving each other room. Confidence.

S: Yeah, the confidence to be weird.  

A: I don’t have to know why you have an idea. I just trust his intuition and intentions. I’m on board. I don’t need to know anything else. 

S: That’s because we trust each other’s intentions. I know he doesn’t want to try something because he thinks it’s going to work. I don’t know.

If you had to summarise what trusting your intuition means, how would you put it?

A: Trying to limit thinking as much as possible. Don’t overthink. Literally go with the flow.

S: The flow of the motherfucking universe. 

Next question – is is the end of the collaboration or just a start? 

A: We’ll definitely do more stuff, right? 

S: Of course.

A: There’s no concrete plan to make a follow-up thing, but it might happen. 

S: There’s either going to be a moment or not. If there is one, we won’t miss it.

A: We’re waiting for the universe to give the cue. 

What kind of cue would you need? 

S: If we know that, then it would be cheating.

Final question – It’s about the looks. Tell us about the hats and the clothes. Is there a message behind it? 

A: I don’t know why, but we both thought we should be like farmers. 

S: It felt like this is what Icelandic farmers in summer should do. 

And why IJsland? 

A: It’s just a great band name. We don’t know why. Nobody knows.

S: Both the band and the album are called that.

 A: If you listen to the word Iceland, it’s a visual name. It sounds like a mythical place.

S: Also in our imagination, the actual land is weird. It’s far away, and there are volcanoes. Nobody’s really been there.

Have you been there? 

S: Yeah, we shot a movie there. 

A: It’s not out yet. You’ve seen the video clip where we’re in the glacier. The whole album has a movie.

S: We shot it in Iceland, but it’s not out yet.

A: One of my favourite artists is from Iceland. Björk.

S: But it has nothing to do with this project. This hat I got in Morocco is exactly what I need right now.