Teitur |
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Tue. July 22.2003 11:08 AM EDT |
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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 |
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Teitur (Publicity) |
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Teitur Lassen is a long way from home, and it shows on his achingly ethereal debut Poetry & Aeroplanes. Its 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 its hardly a cultural hotbed. Theres 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 Vegas 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 didnt 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, theres not many. There are a couple of soccer players, the writer William Heinesen, and theres a guy from the Faroes in the Worlds Strongest Man Competition. Its tiny - there are only 46,000 people there. VH1: Do you get recognized in the streets when you go back? T: Ive always played music there and been in the papers. People are very much in touch with whats 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 dont 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 persons taste. Likewise with the record store. But music travels between people. You still find it, but in a small society its very random. VH1: Which language is more musical: English or Faroese? T: English. I write songs in Faroese too, but Im mad about English. I love English. Ive always read English books since I was a teenager. A lot of people write in English because of the sound of the words and its the tradition theyre used to. There is lots of Faroese songwriting but you dont have much pop music to compare it to. The playground is much smaller. VH1: What is the story behind the song Poetry & Aeroplanes? T: Thats 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 its 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 youre away? T: The surroundings, the air that you breathe & Its 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. Its a drug.[Watch Clip] VH1: What is one of the strangest things youve 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, youre in nature. But here youre in civilization. Thats very different from where I come from. VH1: Are Amandas Dream and Josephine inspired by different people? T: Theyre different people. Those arent love songs, but my girlfriend is obviously my muse. I fall in love with a lot of people. Im very interested in people and their minds. I love to go into peoples heads and write songs from their perspective. VH1: Who was the last person that you gave a hug to? T: I dont know. Probably my sound guy. VH1: The modern mature man gives hugs. T: I do give hugs! Im not afraid of hugs. VH1: What was the last record you bought? T: The new Radiohead record, which I loved. Theyre about being on the edge and being innovative. As long as they do that then its great. Theres 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. Hes on the Arsenal team in Englands Premier League. I go to see them when Im in London. Its not so much the players or the results; its 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. Thats pretty much the American prospective! [Watch Clip] |
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