Úlfur Hansson is an Icelandic composer and multidisciplinary artist working across contemporary classical composition, experimental electronic music, and immersive studio craft. Based between Reykjavík and Brooklyn, his practice spans solo releases, film scoring, ensemble commissions, and production. He has collaborated with internationally recognized artists including Björk, Jónsi (Sigur Rós), Ólöf Arnalds, Anna von Hausswolff, Skúli Sverrisson, and producer Randall Dunn, with performances and works presented at festivals such as Tectonics and by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. His work is further distinguished by his design of original instruments—including the electromagnetic Segulharpa featured in Björk’s Cornucopia—reflecting an ongoing exploration of how sound, technology, and perception intersect.

In this episode, Michael and Úlfur explore creative leadership as the ability to create conditions rather than control outcomes. He reflects on his shift from tightly structured composition toward improvisation, where leadership becomes an act of facilitation—establishing the frame, then allowing something unexpected to emerge. Through his collaboration with Gyða Valtýsdóttir in the duo RÓR, he describes leadership as shared perception: recognizing when two people are oriented toward the same intangible goal and building trust around that alignment. He also discusses designing his own instruments as a form of leadership through constraint—removing excess to enable more direct, intuitive interaction with sound. Across his work in film, production, and collaboration, he moves between roles: at times serving the needs of a larger system, at others supporting an artist’s vision as a “midwife,” helping bring something fragile into form without imposing his own authorship. Throughout, he frames creative leadership not as direction, but as sensitivity—to people, to context, and to the subtle signals that indicate when something real is beginning to take shape.

Sunna Margrét is an Icelandic artist and songwriter whose work has earned international recognition for its blend of experimental pop, electronic textures, and strong melodic structure. Her debut album Finger on Tongue received widespread critical acclaim, with The Quietus describing it as “oddball Icelandic pop that packs a dense punch, heavy with ideas.”

In 2019, she co-founded No Salad Records with her partner, Stéphane Kropf. Their vinyl-focused DIY label, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, operates as a curatorial platform releasing work unified by artistic intent, independence, and experimentation.

In this episode, Michael and Sunna explore her curatorial mind. She reflects on heading out for a UK mini-tour and what she’s testing in the live space right now—how performance becomes a laboratory for choice, tension, and restraint. She revisits her 2025 set at Iceland Airwaves and walks through the craft of building a set list—where she applies preferences and constraints, and which songs she deliberately holds back—before comparing that process to sequencing an album and the discipline of setting certain tracks aside. They also discuss her founding of No Salad Records as a quiet act of resistance within a monetized, patriarchal music culture. Finally, they explore the unlikely but formative influences of Can and Frankenstein, and what they reveal about experimentation, atmosphere, and control in her work.

In this first episode of Season 2, Michael interviews Hildur Maral.

Hildur is an Icelandic-Iranian music industry executive, artist manager, and co-founder of OPIA Community which is a record label, traveling festival series, and creative platform. With over two decades of experience across artist, event, and label management, she has worked with major music institutions including Universal Music Group, Coachella and Roskilde Festival, and is part of the management team for acclaimed composer and producer Ólafur Arnalds.

Season 2 shifts focus from entrepreneurial behavior of artists to their creative leadership—helping others unlock their creative potential.

The two discuss the launch of OPIA and how Hildur's wildly diverse career prepared her for artist development, community development, and label development. She shares how artist development is like dating and why different modes of leadership—foreground, background and "side-by-side"—are necessary in community development regardless of one's role.

They discuss the importance of both "learning by doing" and "learning by education" and how she values her experiences at Kaospilot and Berklee College of Music. The conversation closes with an exploration of grassroots organizations as communities of care.

Recorded in front of a live audience on January 7, 2026 at Huldunótur in Reykjavík.