by Paddy Kinsella

Speaking on her favourite flower and the inspiration behind her latest single, The Orchid, JFDR aka Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Jófríður Ákadóttir, says, ‘It symbolises (among other things) fertility, and I was thinking a lot about rebirth and a new beginning.’

It’s little wonder that Ákadóttir relates to a flower that signifies rebirth – the shapeshifter has released twelve albums in twelve years across a range of different guises from Pascal Pinon, a folk duo she formed with her twin sister at the age of 14, to Samaris, an electronic trio she started at the age of 17, to Gangly, an Icelandic supergroup she joined at the wizened old age of 19.

The Orchid is about our proximity to miracle; in wonder she marvels at how we’re ‘one secret away from / one promise away from / one dream a- / one kiss away from life,’ though ironically the strain in her voice suggests a never-ending chase to grasp something elusive. The bubbling synths, stirring vocals and strings leak into the atmosphere at separate points, finally joining together in the glorious crescendo where they mesh into a matted, thick web.

The song lands somewhere between the deftness of Bjork’s Vespertine and the hypnotism of Julianna Barwick’s Magic Place. Reviewing her last album, 2020’s New Dreams, I referred to it as ‘a record so stark, it hangs like loose clothes swaying and blowing in the wind, your skin exposed to the elements at even the flimsiest of gusts.’ The Orchid is less of a rebirth, and more a further step into that world – a refinement of its already blissful atmosphere. After donning many costumes, Ákadóttir is growing into herself; The Orchid finds her sound blossoming into something that’s almost as distinguishable as the flower she adores so dearly.

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