“Dimmuborgir”, the third single from Icelandic composer Eydís Evensen’s upcoming album “Oceanic Mirror”, features the unmistakable voice of Ásgeir, it’s the kind of track that feels half like a hymn, half like a memory.
“Dimmuborgir” is named after the lava fields in North Iceland — a place where the landscape itself feels like it’s holding secrets. The song captures that same mystery. It’s slow-burning, nearly weightless, but charged with a kind of otherworldly gravity. Ásgeir’s voice — soft, clear, impossibly tender — drifts like fog over Evensen’s restrained yet emotional piano lines. And there’s guitar here too, gentle and warm, binding the whole piece in a sonic thread that glows rather than shines.
What’s especially moving is the backstory. Evensen wrote a poem the night before recording with Ásgeir, as a tribute to her late friend — the Irish musician Talos. She had taught him piano, and his sudden passing clearly left an impression that goes far beyond words. That’s the spirit of “Dimmuborgir”: a song about presence after absence. About spirits that linger. “Even though an individual has passed, you can always feel their presence”, Evensen says — and you can hear that belief in every second.
To me, this one felt like a soft exhale after holding in too much. It’s the kind of track that doesn’t push its emotion — it just is. And yet, it stays with you. The blend of neo-classical with Nordic folk touches gives it that unmistakable Icelandic quality: cinematic without being grandiose, intimate without being confessional. A piece for late evenings, open windows, and quiet reflection.
About Eydís Evensen:
Eydís Evensen has carved a path in post-classical music that’s steeped in her Icelandic roots. Her work is fluid, elemental, and rooted in nature — from her 2021 debut “Bylur” to 2023’s “The Light”, and now her forthcoming third record “Oceanic Mirror”, due October 10 on XXIM Records. It’s an album shaped by the ocean’s contradictions: calm and chaos, life and loss. Collaborators like Ásgeir don’t just guest — they inhabit her world. And with a new tour on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to see that world come to life, one composition at a time.
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