While Björk may be Iceland’s best-known musical export, a four-part rock band is making waves in the United States with its bluesy rock sound.
Growing up on the island populated by volcanoes, Kaleo’s lead singer J J Julius Son dreamed of the American South.
"I think American music influenced me more than other people my age, who maybe didn't connect as much," says the 26-year-old from Nashville, where the four piece recorded its new second album A/B. "I am very influenced by music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s as many people can probably hear. And then all the way back to the 1930s and the Delta Blues."
The band, whose members are in their mid-20s, released its self-titled debut album in Iceland in the autumn of 2013.
“It all happened really quickly,” the singer said. “We released an Icelandic song in the spring of 2013 and that just really took off and was the most played song on radio that year.”
Since moving to Austin, Texas, over a year ago, the band's songs have been popping up on US television and radio. No Good was used on the HBO series Vinyl, produced by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, and was featured in the soundtrack. The single Way Down We Go has broken into the top 10 on the Adult Alternative chart and has been used in soundtracks, promotions and trailers for shows such as Orange is the New Black and Empire.
Produced by Jacquire King, who also produces the Kings of Leon, A/B is a mix of Southern influences, from soft and sweet folk songs to blues rock and jagged 1970s guitar anthems. The band even has a country-tinged tune, Automobile, inspired by California and Mexico, two places that Julius Son had never even visited before writing the song.
“I kind of consider it a country song,” he explains. “When I lived in Iceland, I would go to Spain sometimes to holiday and write music in the sun ... It’s obviously a very sunny song.”
But the band also paid tribute to its homeland on the album with an Icelandic song, a haunting ballad called Vor í Vaglaskogi. Julius Son said the song made it on the record after he was surprised by the reaction from American audiences when they played it on previous tours.
“People seem to bond to this song and have a response on an emotional level,” he says. “[It] is incredible considering they don’t understand one word.”
•A/B is out now