Sunna Margrét
For some artists, music seems to flow naturally. Some choose to play it through channels they’ve visited many times before, often for fear of the unknown. Others choose to assume the impalpable strangeness of the worlds that inhabit them as much as the one that surrounds them. Sunna Margrét’s music belongs to this second category, combining an inspiration bathed in naturalness and spontaneity, which fully embraces a certain complexity and sonic ambition.
“I’m very inspired by strange encounters with people, by human interactions that are a little bizarre”
A vision of reality that permeates this artists approach to music. Born in Iceland, Sunna Margrét took up music at an early age, it was the discovery of jazz music that opened up a new field of expression for her. On leaving her teens, she suddenly found herself traveling the world to play music. She later moved to Switzerland and began studying art. A change of life and environment, coupled with motherhood, encouraged her to create free-spirited music, bathed in varied aesthetic experiences but always imbued with a science of melody and curiosity.
Sunna Margrét’s latest single Chocolate is a gentle mix of spoken word, ambient pop and soaring vocals. The song evokes the impossibility of going back to change the course of a love story that ends badly. “It’s a desperate situation with a comic outcome” explains Sunna. Chocolate received praise from BBC Radio 6 Music presenters Jamz Supernova, Deb Grant & Tom Ravenscroft, Radcliffe & Maconie, Radio X’s John Kennedy, Simone Marie Butler on Soho Radio and The Line of Best Fit. Sunna Margrét’s distinctive vocals lead this leftfield pop gem, blending pulsating beats and deep bass, evoking both melancholy and determination.
In addition to her musical endeavours, Sunna Margrét is an accomplished visual artist who frequently marries her music and art. She sees art as a form of resistance and this motivated her to co-found DIY label No Salad Records. The label became a place to foster her own artistic visions and collaborations, presenting artists from different corners of the world, across a multitude of genres including avant-garde, electronic and post-punk.
Sunna Margrét’s music has been featured on The Wire Magazine, The Line of Best Fit and received enthusiastic UK radio support. In 2019 she won the Prix Ernest Manganel for her Bachelor diploma project as well as the annual Kraumur Award for her EP Art of History that also received two nominations at the Iceland Music Awards. Sunna Margrét is nominated again for the Kraumur Award in 2023 for her EP Five Songs for Swimming.