On his fifth studio album, ‘Julia’, out February 13th via One Little Independent Records, Icelandic singer-songwriter Ásgeir enters intriguing and uncharted territory. After years of engaging translators such as John Grant and working with the poetry of his father, Einar Georg Einarsson, Ásgeir has penned his lyrics by himself for the first time in his long and celebrated career. The result is a deeply contemplative body of work, steeped in nostalgia, that sees Ásgeir meditating on his past regrets as well as his hopes for the future, guided by the spectre of the album’s title character.

Ásgeir has long been lauded for his intricate folk-pop, lush production, and wistful, emotive falsetto. ‘Julia’ marks a shift toward not just lyrical self-reliance but cathartic directness, songs that feel not just exquisitely performed, but lived in. “This was kind of the first time I was writing lyrics totally on my own,” he shares. “It was scary. I’m still trying to find myself within that. But I tried to open myself up and I learned a lot through that process, and it was definitely therapeutic for me.”

A1. Quiet Life
A2. Against The Current
A3. Smoke
A4. Ferris Wheel
A5. Universe Beyond
B1. Julia
B2. Sugar Clouds
B3. Stranger
B4. In The Wee Hours
B5. Into The Sun