HYLUR is a band of contrasts, and that’s very aptly showcased in the double A-side album of Desperate / Shoot Me Down. The two songs reveal different facets of the band’s style, as it goes from a sensitive vulnerability to an energetic rock power. Shoot Me Down didn’t materialize quite so quickly after a fleeting moment of inspiration, nearly two years to get to a completed form, with a beloved guitar as the inspiration. The songs are paired together to tell two interwoven narratives of insecurities, doubts, and emotional struggles, thus creating a release that is honest, relatable and intensely personal.
HYLUR was established by friends as a musical group during childhood in the small fishing town of Stykkishólmur, in Iceland, and has been developing as a group and a family for over 10 years. In their open, collaborative songwriting, and in their energetic live performances, where improvisation and connecting with the audience are most important, that bond is reflected in everything they do. Their sound is a fusion of Britpop, 90s college rock and classic Icelandic music, with a nostalgic and fresh quality.
HYLUR continue to gain momentum with support from Monomyth Records and an upcoming tour in the UK and Europe and maintain their honesty in their music.
During this interview, the band discusses the story behind their album Desperate / Shoot Me Down, their Icelandic origins, the value of being connected to each other as a band, and why they are still their number one priority with their listeners.
Listen to Desperate / Shoot Me Down
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Congratulations on the release of Desperate / Shoot Me Down. What inspired these two songs, and why did you feel they belonged together as a double A-side release?
Thank you! We’re really happy with finally getting them out into the world. We thought that these two songs belonged together because they showcase really well what sort of a band we are. We like to think there are two sides to our band, we go low and slow, and then we go loud and upbeat.
The writing process for the two songs was actually very different.
With Desperate, it just fell from the sky. I (Smari) was working in a guitar shop, and I’d lost interest in one of my guitars so I brought it in the shop for the guys to try out. One of my coworkers is a great musician and guitar player (they all are). He picked it up, plugged it in, and it has never sounded better!
So I took it back home that day, completely in love with this guitar again and I sat down on my bed with what felt like a new guitar and wrote Desperate pretty much in one sitting – I brought it to band practise and we did some final touches together, but the majority of the song just happened – it’s still my favourite guitar now! (for you fellow nerds out there it’s a 2015 Gibson Les Paul Special double cut)
Shoot me down on the other hand took about two years in the making. The verse and pre-chorus were written in one sitting back in 2023 but I could never write a chorus that stuck. We didn’t touch it for two years. Then last year (2025) a few weeks before we were due for our latest studio session the chorus as we know it today was finally born – it was very last minute and it took a bit of convincing with the band to finish it, but together we landed on something that we’re very proud of.
Both tracks carry a lot of emotion while still delivering the big, energetic sound HYLUR is known for.
What stories or personal experiences influenced the writing of these songs?
It’s a combination of loads of different stories and scenarios. Another thing that makes these songs fit together on a single release is that they are basically two sides of insecurity. Desperate I think exists in all of us – and I’m not saying we all act like a maniac, but the feeling exists in all of us, it’s this angry cry for help, and feeling a lack of attention and safety. Shoot Me Down explores the comedown from that rage-like feeling. It’s about not feeling good enough, and thinking that everyone is out to get you, but you’re exhausted so you go up to the school bully and say “here I am, let me have it, get it over with – I won’t fight back.” Both of these songs explore emotions that I think some people might relate to.
Your music blends indie rock, Britpop and college rock influences, but it also has a character that feels uniquely Icelandic. How have your roots shaped the band’s sound over the years?
The Icelandic roots will never leave us. As kids playing together in a small fishing village, we felt very isolated from everything out in the world – and I couldn’t wait to get out of there, but now the isolation is what I love about the place. We were listening non- stop to all those britpop bands and 90’s American bands and wishing that we lived somewhere else and closer to those bands. We started writing songs as if we were one of them. But at the same time, we were learning the classic Icelandic pop catalog to be able to get proper gigs in our hometown – so I think these two influences put together have a lot to do with our sound. There’s so much great Icelandic music out there, and our love for it never fades.
You formed HYLUR with childhood friends in Stykkishólmur. How has growing up together influenced the chemistry you share both in the studio and on stage?
We realise that we’ve got a rare thing, we’ve been friends for 14 years – and we were 14 when we started playing, that’s half our lives? Is it more? I’m horrible at math. There is nothing that we don’t know about each other. Outside of the band we’re also best friends, we all know everyone in each other’s families and we’ve been to each other’s family reunions – all of our parents basically gained extra children when we started a band – not to mention that Frikki and Hinrik are step brothers in real life as well.
In the studio it’s very handy to be this close, we know how to work together and we can be completely honest about what we’re doing, there’s no beating around the bush. We speak up when we don’t like something and we always try each other’s ideas before and the best idea wins.
We’re a very live band so on stage we will read the room and make some parts longer or shorter and there’s loads of stuff we improvise, and we all know each other so well so all we have to do is look at each other and we know what’s gonna happen next. We’ve sometimes had extra players for live performances and it’s funny to see the confusion in their eyes when we change something up, we do not stick to the script.
Your live performances have built a reputation for being full of energy and emotion. How important is the live experience to HYLUR, and what do you hope people take away after seeing one of your shows?
The live experience is the most important part of our band, that’s who we are, that’s what it’s all about, we’re a live act. We hope that people feel closer to us and each other after coming to a show. We’re best friends playing music together and there’s nothing that we love more, it’s always our goal to spread that energy into the crowd. Since day one it’s been our one rule to play every single show like it’s our biggest and most important show ever. If there’s 3 people (yes that has happened) or 300 people, we give it everything we’ve got, and it’s amazing how much people seem to appreciate it, because the people that do show up, they want a show. The aim is to have people leave the gig with a smile on their face.
Signing with Monomyth Records is an exciting step in your journey. What does this partnership mean for the band, and how has it helped shape your plans for the future?
We are extremely grateful to Bob and the team at Monomyth for everything they have done for us. We’ve been collaborating with them and meeting all of the other bands, it means a lot to us to have this sense of family and community. We have become good friends with the other bands on the roster and we were actually talking about it the other day that it feels like being back in school. You know as a kid going on these field trips and making friends, getting up to some shenanigans (I don’t think there’s a better way to bond).
It’s also a boost for our career and opens doors for us here in the UK. Being an Icelandic band and moving to the UK without knowing how to move forward in the music environment here is difficult, and signing with Monomyth makes everything more accessible to us and makes the future seem very bright for our little band.
Desperate / Shoot Me Down feels nostalgic while still sounding fresh and modern. Was that contrast something you set out to achieve, or did it develop naturally during the creative process?
I think for us, inspiration has a lot to do with it. The sound happens naturally as a combination of the music that inspires us and us being geeks and using every opportunity to use vintage gear in the studio. We have a lot of fun playing with old school and modern sounds at once. We all grew up in the countryside and sing-a-long evenings are a big thing in rural Iceland. My roots as a musician come from learning Beatles and Elvis songs and old Icelandic folk songs and performing them at events around our hometowns in the west of Iceland. There we used to play at a lot of “Þorrablót”. They are an old Viking tradition where you drink Brennivín (black death vodka drink) and eat fermented shark, and everyone dances through the night – it’s great fun! I think these roots never really leave us but have rather just mixed with the britpop and 90’s college rock that we listened to religiously as teens.
Your songs often explore the highs and lows of being human with honesty and vulnerability. Why is it important for HYLUR to write music that connects with people on such a personal level?
Music is such a human thing, and at it’s core a conversation. I often come up with the melody first and sometimes the words come naturally like a final piece of the puzzle. People speak in different tones depending on what the topic is and I like to think of melodies in that way as well. The melody needs to be honest as well as the words. As a kid I used to always hide how I felt, so when I heard a song where someone was singing about something that I was afraid to open up about it really resonated with me, and I have found it very helpful to deal with emotions through music, both my own and even covering songs that I relate to can be extremely therapeutic for me.
You’ve already played festivals like Live at Leeds and Iceland Airwaves, winning over audiences with your performances. What have those experiences taught you about yourselves as a band?
It has taught us that when we’re onstage, what matters most to us is the connection that we feel with the audience and in those moments we feel both united as a group and with the audience. Anyone who has perfomed on stage will tell you that feeling is almost incomparable in weight and can be overwhelming at times but can also be the greatest thing that you ever experience. We think we are at our strongest when playing for a live audience, especially when we feel that the people are resonating with the lyrics and getting involved in the show. We like to bring everyone along for the ride and we kind of look at a live performance like we’re spending the evening with the audience. We like to engage in a lot of crowd participation and can’t wait to get to do it more often. That really is what it’s all about.
With a UK and European tour coming later this year, what are you most looking forward to, and what do you hope new listeners discover about HYLUR through Desperate / Shoot Me Down?
We’re super excited to play new venues and see new places and faces. If I had to choose one release to properly explain to someone what kind of band HYLUR is, it would be Desperate / Shoot Me Down. This release showcases the two sides of HYLUR perfectly – it’s a very dynamic band, we like to slow down and explore our vulnerability, but then we also looove to crank it up and scream and shout and sweat. And there’s no place better to showcase and share that experience with people than a proper indie music venue.
