Vök – “Waiting” Video (Stereogum Premiere)

Vök – “Waiting” Video (Stereogum Premiere)

Iceland has an exceedingly well-earned reputation for possessing a mystic allure. In a small country with a small population, it takes very little time before you find yourself out in the middle of some serene, seemingly untouched place — an isolated stretch of black sand on a beach, or at the foot of a glacier, or surveying the scorched alien expanse of a volcanic field. As a visitor, it makes you feel as if you’re on another planet entirely, and, fittingly, Iceland’s musical exports tend towards genres that suggest the contrasts of the land these musicians grew up in: eerie emptiness birthing skewed post-punk, or the surreal shape-shifting of the countryside lending a perfect source for dream-logic electronica or pop.

At last year’s Iceland Airwaves, in Reykjavik, I saw a group that falls into the latter category: Vök. The trio — who originally hail from a smaller town outside Reykjavik — make meditative electronic music full of chilly, detached atmospherics that sound as if the band’s harnessing them directly from the Icelandic air around them. Last month, they followed the dual 2015 EPs Circles and Tension with a new single, “Waiting.” Today, we’re premiering the video for that track.

The Glashier-directed clip shows Vök meandering through some of those striking countrysides in their home country. Throughout, there are a number of shots that present elements of the landscape almost like abstracted structures: You can’t tell exactly what you’re looking at, or from what angle, or from how far, which only serves to isolate and heighten the strange beauty and mystery of the place. Like the song, the video is all icy moodiness, finding some middle ground between the sleekness of a fashion ad and the fantasy imagery of a Game Of Thrones episode. Watch below.

Vök are currently on tour in Europe. They’re also at work on a full-length debut.

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