Radar Love – Icelandic Synth Pop Duo Jane Telephonda

We are always down for listening to new bands from Iceland. Do we need to say – Sigur Ros, Bjork, Olafur Arnalds – that there is something so moving, poignant and joyous in the music of so many artists from the enchanting and mystical northernmost Atlantic isle.

Now there is a new band starting to make headway on and beyond the ancient Nordic land; and we can see why. Jane Telephonda of Kópavogur City.

We love the reverb-oozing vocals, the hard-driving snare and bass drum beats, the soaring synths and the infectious melodies and harmonies from the verses through the uplifting choruses on the new single, “Transmuted Saltness.” It has that put-it-on-repeat quality about it.

Jane Telephonda are the husband and wife duo Ívar Páll Jónsson and Ásdís Rósa Þórðardóttir. Their unique blend of influences are inspired by the sounds of the classics to the contemporaries, including David Bowie, Sufjan Stevens, Wilco, Grizzly Bear, Of Montreal, and Queen.

The couple are not, however, new to the world of music.

Jónsson began playing guitar and recording his own music on a four-track at the age of 16. Fast-forward to 2011: he begins writing for his 2014 concept album, Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson Furniture Painter, which ultimately earns Jónsson a nomination for the 2014 Icelandic Music Awards. The album received rave reviews in the U.S. coinciding with its theatrical stage adaption at the Minetta Lane Theater in NYC in the summer of 2014.

Along with the undeniably gifts of his wife, who also performed on ‘Revolution’ the duo of Jane Telephonda are bound to make waves of their own with their newest venture.

You’re probably wondering what’s up with the name?

It’s kind of a crazy thing. Þórðardóttir loves Jane Fonda as an actress. So, when the couple’s fourth child came along, they combined the Jane Fonda fixation with Jónsson’s love of phones – and wah-lah – the name Jane Telephonda. But it wouldn’t just be the band name; they named the child Jane Telephonda too.

I know, right?…

It just makes the music all that more inviting to us because it’s so punk. JT: Stay crazy and keep pumping out those melodic, hook-friendly synth pop anti-folk-ish beats.

Jane Telephonda on Facebook
Jane Telephonda official website