Knút Releases Fourth Studio Album "Hjartaslattur"

Faroese singer-songwriter Knút is releasing today his new album, Hjartasláttur, via the local Tutl Records. Anticipated by the singles 'Vit sótu við havið' and 'Tú ert', Hjartasláttur is the fourth studio album by Knút, who has been a central figure in Faroese music life for over two decades.

Listen to Hjartasláttur HERE

The project for Hjartasláttur started during the pandemic, as the imposed stillness became an occasion for him to write and play his own music again: “I have been playing with many different bands and projects over the last decade, but the occasion for getting the band together and playing my own music again came in the summer of 2020 when the Faroese Fólkatónar festival had a lot of cancellations from their international acts because of the pandemic and local artists had to step up to fill up empty slots in the program.” – he says.

Knút got a request to play one of the shows that would otherwise be cancelled, and “the thought came to me that now was the time to start performing my music again” – he continues. “And so it happened that we played the first full Knút show with a band in several years. This resulted in some additional shows where we worked on new material that I had written over the preceding years.” In the spring of 2021, Knút and his band went into their studio/art space in Tórshavn and began laying the groundwork for this fourth studio album.

“As the album recording process was born out of a time of worry and pandemic, I wanted the resulting album to be about uplift, togetherness and vulnerability. We are living in times of great worry with climate change, war, inflation, pandemics, etc., and it is easy to get swallowed up in the doom-scrolling. If music can be a space where we acknowledge the vulnerability of our lives and dig into the meaning of art, music and beauty and uphold these things and their inherent value, we can lift each other up.” – Knút adds.

Keywords describing Knút’s new music are uplift, modern, psychedelic, gospel, spacious, intimate and heartfelt. In keeping with the conviction that the most interesting music is made from the melding of different inputs, Knút draws inspiration from a wide variety of styles and genres. As the socio-musicologist and critic Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen says, “Shades of Sigur Ros, Talk Talk and David Sylvian and an undiscernible Faroese folk/hymnal streak are running through the album. You can also hear touches of the classic Faroese pop music of yesteryear that is part of Knút’s DNA. Elegant, moving and melodic music that at times is broken up with noisy guitar crescendos, possibly to accentuate the struggles that colour the lyrical themes. It unfolds like a meditative journey into his home country where convoluted, often paradoxical feelings arise. Can two hearts, Knút’s and the Faroese one, beat as one? The music mirrors this. The tracks positively glide in a strong, dignified manner, but there is vulnerability and sensitivity to them at the same time.”

Hjartasláttur is produced by Knút (vocals, guitar) in collaboration with Benjamin Petersen (Son of Fortune) and the band consisting of Torleik Mortensen (bass), Per Ingvaldur H. Petersen (drums) and Mattias Kapnas (keys).

ABOUT KNÚT

Knút (Knút Háberg Eysturstein) is a musician, songwriter, and singer. He’s also a researcher in Music Education at the University of the Faroe Islands. He has been a central figure in Faroese music life for over two decades as a musician, programmer, producer, scholar and all-around “doer”. Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen recalls how Knút has been “one of the main instigators of the "Millenium Revolution" in Faroese music culture, where a younger generation of musicians brought progressive, creative leanings into a somewhat stagnated music life”.

Through the years, Knút has toured and recorded with numerous bands and artists such as Gestir, Marius, Petur Pólson, AVE, Tuxedo Rebels, Konni Kass, Svartmálm and Hogni, with participation in around twenty studio recordings to date. Knút has previously released three solo albums on Tutl Records: Havsgló (2004), The Desert Holds A Flower (2009), and On High (2013).