Little Moscow is the new EP from Valgeir Sigurðsson, out on November 15 on Bedroom Community. The EP is the soundtrack of the namesake movie by Grímur Hákonarson.

“I wanted to create a score that resonates with the isolation, suggests nostalgia for a simpler time and acknowledges the recent shifts”
– Valgeir Sigurðsson –

Composed, produced, mixed and mastered by: Valgeir Sigurðsson at Greenhouse Studios, Reykjavík.
Performed by: Budapest Art Orchestra, Francesco Fabris, Daniel Pioro & Valgeir Sigurðsson.

ABOUT THE MOVIE:

In the Cold War, Iceland was a western democracy. The United States operated a base there and Iceland was a member of NATO. Coalitions of center-right parties ran the government and town councils all over the country. But there was one exception: In Neskaupstaður, a town of 1500 people in the east of the country, Socialists ran the show. They came to power in 1946 and kept control for 52 years. The town of Neskaupstadur has been undergoing a lot of transitions in recent years. For half a century the town was ruled by socialists and called “Little Moscow”. These days capitalism has taken over, companies have been privatized and a tunnel is being drilled through the mountain that will open the community to the outside world. Director Grímur Hákonarson tells the curious story of a town in the east of Iceland that until not very long ago was one of the most isolated places in the country.

Purchase Little Moscow here.

How much unspoiled nature should we preserve and what do we sacrifice for clean, renewable energy? Dreamland gradually turns into a disturbing picture of corporate power taking over small communities.

Dreamland is a film about a nation standing at cross-roads. Leading up to the country’s greatest economic crisis, the government started the largest mega project in the history of Iceland, to build the biggest dam in Europe to provide Alcoa cheap electricity for an aluminum smelter in the rugged east fjords of Iceland. Today Iceland is left holding a huge dept and an uncertain future.

In Dreamland a nation with abundance of choices gradually becomes caught up in a plan to turn its wilderness and beautiful nature into a massive system of hydro-electric and geothermal power plants with dams and reservoirs. Clean energy brings in polluting industry and international corporations. It’s the dark side of green energy.

HVELLUR fjallar um einstakan atburð í sögunni. Að kvöldi 25. ágúst 1970 tóku bændur í Suður-Þingeyjarsýslu sig saman og sprengdu í loft upp stíflu í Laxá við Mývatn. Bændurnir höfðu mótmælt harðlega virkjanaáformum á svæðinu en sjónarmið þeirra voru virt að vettugi. Með sprengingunni tókst þeim að koma í veg fyrir eyðileggingu Laxár og Mývatns. 113 lýstu verkinu á hendur sér, 65 voru ákærðir. Samstaðan brást aldrei og aldrei kom fram hver sprengdi. Þessi uppreisn markaði upphaf náttúruverndarbaráttu á Íslandi.