Teitur |
 |
|
Tue. July 22.2003 11:08 AM EDT |
||
Teitur: Rambling ManThe Faroese waif's global jaunts make his heart heavy and music radiant. He talks language barriers and soccer players. by C. Bottomley |
||||
|
||||
 |
Teitur (Publicity) |
|
||
Teitur Lassen is a long way from home, and it shows on his achingly ethereal debut Poetry & Aeroplanes. It’s an album for anyone who has ever felt like a stranger in a strange land, far from those they love. On “I Was Just Thinking,” he sighs,
“I was kind of depressed when I discovered the songs had so many traveling metaphors,” admits the singer. “But moving around has been a huge part of my life for the past three years.” [Watch Clip] Home for Teitur is the Faroe Islands, a distant archipelago off the Norwegian coast settled by the Vikings in the ninth century. Most of the 46,000 islanders make their living through fishing, and the singer, whose name means “happy man," concedes it’s hardly a cultural hotbed. There’s only one pop radio program. Teitur recalls his early shows with the band Mark No Limits as “an excuse to go out and get drunk.” Teitur's wandering began when he heard Suzanne Vega’s “Luka.” He put down his electric guitar, picked up an acoustic and started singing with a precocious worldliness. Armed with “I Was Just Thinking," he wrote and recorded in Copenhagen, Munich, New York, Spain and Los Angeles. The Faroes didn’t forget him, though. When he signed with Universal in 2002, the business community back home gave him the Achievement of the Year Award. Teitur is getting used to being the Faroes' most famous ex-pat. Appropriately, the inside cover of Poetry & Aeroplanes is a picture of him nursing a cup of tea in an anonymous hotel room, and his music has taken him from Manhattan boutique venues to Nashville pool halls. He told VH1 about coping with culture shock, loving your sound guy, and staying awake for soccer. See three VH1 exclusive live performances, "I Was Just Thinking", "Poetry and Aeroplanes" and "Sleeping with the Lights On". VH1: Are you the most famous person from the Faroe Islands? Teitur: Well, there’s not many. There are a couple of soccer players, the writer William Heinesen, and there’s a guy from the Faroes in the World’s Strongest Man Competition. It’s tiny - there are only 46,000 people there. VH1: Do you get recognized in the streets when you go back? T: I’ve always played music there and been in the papers. People are very much in touch with what’s going on with politics and music and entertainment. Everybody knows who is doing what and what this guy is up to. You know everybody. But, yes, even strangers that I don’t know, know me. VH1: Did the island's isolation make it hard to get your hands on pop music growing up? T: Definitely. There would be one radio station with one show a week which was good, and you would have to rely on that person’s taste. Likewise with the record store. But music travels between people. You still find it, but in a small society it’s very random. VH1: Which language is more musical: English or Faroese? T: English. I write songs in Faroese too, but I’m mad about English. I love English. I’ve always read English books since I was a teenager. A lot of people write in English because of the sound of the words and it’s the tradition they’re used to. There is lots of Faroese songwriting but you don’t have much pop music to compare it to. The playground is much smaller. VH1: What is the story behind the song “Poetry & Aeroplanes?” T: That’s the whole songwriter cliché about traveling and writing songs. It was written in New York with my friend Jeff Cohen. It was a hangover idea that went into the whole traveling songwriter thing. It became the title for the album because a lot of the songs are about that. I was kind of depressed when I discovered the songs had so many traveling metaphors. But it’s been a huge part of my life for the past three years. Coming from a place like the Faroe Islands, you have to travel a lot. VH1: What do you miss most about home when you’re away? T: The surroundings, the air that you breathe … It’s mostly people that you miss. You become accustomed to different climates and other people. But I feel like I have [home] under my skin. I have to be there and have to go back. It’s a drug.[Watch Clip] VH1: What is one of the strangest things you’ve seen in the U.S.? T: New York is a shock. When I came to New York I was just baffled. Everything here is constructed. Wherever I am, I can always see the horizon; you can always see the water, you’re in nature. But here you’re in civilization. That’s very different from where I come from. VH1: Are “Amanda’s Dream” and “Josephine” inspired by different people? T: They’re different people. Those aren’t love songs, but my girlfriend is obviously my muse. I fall in love with a lot of people. I’m very interested in people and their minds. I love to go into people’s heads and write songs from their perspective. VH1: Who was the last person that you gave a hug to? T: I don’t know. Probably my sound guy. VH1: The modern mature man gives hugs. T: I do give hugs! I’m not afraid of hugs. VH1: What was the last record you bought? T: The new Radiohead record, which I loved. They’re about being on the edge and being innovative. As long as they do that then it’s great. There’s a big difference between their material in a way. I enjoy it because they reflect the time that we live in. VH1: Who is your favorite soccer player? T: Thierry Henri is my favorite player. He’s on the Arsenal team in England’s Premier League. I go to see them when I’m in London. It’s not so much the players or the results; it’s the game and the atmosphere and the poetry of the playing, as boring as that may sound. The Simpsons did a great parody of soccer where all the Americans watching fell asleep, then they became hooligans. That’s pretty much the American prospective! [Watch Clip] |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  |
 |
 |
Receive Free Music News Daily Via Email |
|
Receive Free Artist Updates Via Email for Teitur |
|
All news for Teitur |
|
Breaking Music News |
 |
Add VH1 News to My Yahoo |
|
