Auðunn Lúthersson cut his teeth playing with Icelandic hardcore and noise-rock bands. After seeing James Blake at Sónar in 2013, he reinvented himself under the pseudonym AUÐUR (pronounced “Author”), switched over to electronic music and dropped his debut album, Alone, at the beginning of February. Alone is a slick and sensual take on R&B and explores the themes of isolation and longing.
During Iceland Airwaves AUÐUR offered festival-goers an exclusive pre-listen to the album in Pokémon GO style at a downtown square in Reykjavík. Over 4000 people hunted it down via their mobiles. No stranger to doing things his way, AUÐUR later filmed a visual version of the album in one take in a secluded room at an abandoned power plant on the outskirts of Reykjavík. The results were premiered and screened live from Harpa, the city’s world famous concert hall, and ran in a continuous loop for 24 hours to mark the beginning and end of Groundhog Day.