Icelandic Post-Punk Band GRÓA Release Reissue LPs

Today, Icelandic post-punk group GRÓA released the reissues of their two acclaimed studio albums, the 2019 sophomore album Í Glimmerheimi and its 2021 follow up, What I like to do via the US label, FOUND. The remastered albums are available on vinyl and CD for the first time ever, with a special bonus track available only on physical platforms. Purchase the albums here.

GRÓA also shared a new music video directed by Anna Maggý and GRÓA for their track “Jetpackstelpan” from the album Í Glimmerheimi. The band says,“‘Jetpackstelpan’ is about a girl that is going to get herself a jetpack and fly herself to the moon, getting away. Escaping the glittery and claustrophobic world she is living in. It’s about confusion and the feeling of wanting to get out of a situation, scenario or lifestyle.” The video captures GRÓA’s endless energetic spirit, weaving in and out of footage displayed on a jetpack-shaped television screen strapped to someone’s back. With its digital DIY aesthetic, the video showcases the band members donning eccentric outfits and makeup, melting from one trippy scene to the next.

GRÓA will also be attending this year’s SXSW as an official artist, with showcase performances listed below.

The Reykjavík-bred band, consisting of sisters Karólína Einars Maríudóttir, aka Karó (lead vocals, guitar, keys) and Hrafnhildur Einars Maríudóttir, aka Hrabba (drums, vocals), as well as Fríða Björg Pétursdóttir (bass, vocals), and Marta Ákadóttir (saxophone, percussion, recorder)
fearlessly blend aspects of post-punk, noise-rock, and art-pop into a dynamic sonic hash with boundless intention. “Our sound is our way to keep rock musicinteresting for ourselves, test every idea, keep our minds open, creative, unrestricted, our sound is a tiny little world with no rules,” the band says. GRÓA are looking forward to enchanting audiences once again, with new musicon the way later this year.

GRÓA discovered their combustible musicality through years of dreaming up songs while growing up together in Reykjavík and are best known for their revelatory live shows – a highly communal experience that has won acclaim from outlets like KEXP, Paste Magazine, Flaunt, Clash, The Line of Best Fit and more. While their songs endlessly veer off into unexpected and sublimely jarring directions, all of GRÓA’s music reveals the deep sense of purpose behind their nonstop experimentation: a profound desire to shatter limitations, dismantle worn-out patterns and narrow ways of thinking, and uncover new possibilities for living without restraint in an all-too-rigid world.

Their 2019 sophomore album Í Glimmerheimi focuses on themes of curiosity and growing up, with the creation process emphasized by the group’s connection through deep talks about life, playfulness, and the realization of society’s “box”…and how to break out of it. “The album is about growing up in a world and getting to know it in a different way than you used to. Seeing and hearing things in a new way. Getting to know your own voice.” The band expands, “The album was written when we were 16 and 17 years old. A lot of the songs are sung from third person narrative, like a story, making a brand new fantasy-based world out of moments and thoughts in our real worlds.”

GRÓA took these themes further on their following album, 2021’s What I like to do. “Our live shows had started to get more aggressive with time and that was opening us up a bit,” the band says. “We had a longing to do our next album heavier – keep it raw and filterless. The phrase ‘nothing is wrong in the creative process’ was at the top of our minds this time.” Sticking to this goal, the band embraced every “flaw” through the recording process – emphasizing and building on them through the making of the project. “This state of mind really had its impact on the album. It was all about satisfying ourselves by making music,” the band explains.

With their early live experience, including local gigs across makeshift venues, GRÓA released their self-titled debut in 2018 and first took the stage at the famed Iceland Airwaves festival in 2019, earning them rave reviews around the globe. Since then, they’ve opened for DJ sets by Pussy Riot and Björk, as well as live shows with artists like Wilco and Kælan Mikla. In all of their live shows, the band adds a heady element of free-flowing improvisation to their songs while providing abundant space for audience members to shed their own inhibitions. These refreshing elements make them an act that you just can’t miss.

SXSW Showcases:
Wednesday, March 13 – Victorian Room at The Driskill, presented by Iceland Music(11:00pm-11:40pm)
Friday, March 15 – Swan Dive Patio on Red River, presented by The Line of Best Fit (11:00pm-11:40pm)

  

‘Í Glimmerheimi’ Album Art | Hi-res version here; ‘What I like to do’ Album Art