Where have I been ?

Yes I have been on maternity leave from my career for almost a year. A lot of clever business people  told me that it is not a brilliant idea to disappear from the music for that long, and they were probably right. But sometimes live just takes over and you don´t really have a choice.
While I was pregnant I had planned to start touring a few months after the baby was born and I had my mum on standby to come with us to babysit while I played my gigs. But then baby Arabella arrived early and pretty much cried constantly for the first 7 months of her life and often stayed awake for 20 hours straight.

Needless to say, that´s when my plans changed. In the past I thought being jet lagged and touring with my band was rock´n roll. Now I realize I had never actually felt truly tired until I had Arabella.

We have had many very stressful nights where we rushed Arabella to the emergency room because she cried so much for so long, we saw lots of pediatricians and specialists but still the baby cried. We tried alternative therapies, and as  I am breast feeding I changed my diet so many times just to make sure it wasn´t something I was eating that was upsetting her. Everyone we met had a good advise for us and thought they knew what was wrong. Thankfully all the checks and tests came back saying Arabella is a strong healthy girl, so all we could do was put her in the baby carrier and keep walking. I am glad we live in the country side because we have spent so many nights walking around with her outside, the bright Icelandic summer nights were a big bonus in that situation. I can´t quite imagine walking around in my pyjamas holding a new born in the middle of London at 3 am.

Now my daughter is 10 months old, she is very happy and healthy but still not a big fan of sleeping. I have managed to finish my new album thanks to a very supportive family that took it in turns to walk around with her whilst I recorded vocals, for everything else Arabella was with us in the studio.

I am going to play one little gig in London at the end of May and then I am doing some proper touring in the autumn. Until then I promise to share with you some live videos of my new songs and possibly invite you to an online gig in from the pink house.

Just wanted to give you all a quick update and I will post news about my music, baby, chickens and other important things here on the blog.....

Hope to see you all later this year.

XXXXX

Hafdis

Lullabies.

Hello everyone.

Since my last blog entry I have moved into a new house ( well it is actually a very old house, but it is new to me and it is pink. ), recorded an album of Icelandic lullabies, and I am expecting a baby next month. So lots of exciting things going on. The lullaby album was released in Iceland this week and the Icelandic title is Vögguvísur. My foreign friends will be able to order a copy from my website, it should be set up in the next few days. Until then here is a little video from the recording session for one of the songs. This is recorded in our home studio in the new-old house.

In England writing for the new album.

Hello everyone.

I have been in England now for a couple of weeks writing for my new album and I am excited about how the new songs are sounding. I also went to a screening of the new Borrowers film last night, it was nice to hear my version of Merry little christmas over the opening credits of the film. I was hoping to meet Stephen Fry but he wasn´t there. ( I was going to ask him to take me with him next time he goes to have tea with the queen, he seems like someone who would get invited.)

Doing some writing tomorrow for pop stars I don´t know, I also did that in Norway the other week. It is fun to sometimes write for other singer.

Hope you have started to feel a bit christmasy like I have.

xxxxxx

Hafdis

London gig canceled.

Hello everyone.

Due to things beyond my control I have had to postpone my trip to England until November. So my two London gigs this week have had to be canceled.

Loking forward to playing you some new songs next time I come over.

xxxxxx

Hafdis

First song from my third album.

The first song you get to hear from my third album is called Pop Song. I wrote it with Nik Kershaw who has red squirrels in his garden. Now I want squirrels in my garden ( don´t think it is possible here in Iceland so I will settle for some chickens).

I am very happy with the video for the song and hope you like it too.

xxxxxxxxxx

A quick video blog from Germany.

My new songs.

I have been busy writing new songs lately. Very excited about the new album now, and look forward to start adding some of the brand new songs to the live show. The one I recorded yesterday is very sad, but somehow sad in a nice way Then when I need to give my brain a rest from music stuff I go and work in the garden. I am growing potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and beetroot this year. Also planted some pretty summer flowers outside of my house. Yes believe it or not it has stopped snowing , finally, ( and there are no volcanos going off at the moment ). And I celebrated this by planting pink flowers !