Magnús Jóhann is a Reykjavík-based musician, composer, arranger, and producer whose work moves fluidly across jazz, ambient, neoclassical, electronic, film, and pop music. Over the past decade he has collaborated with artists including GDRN, Moses Hightower, ADHD, Skúli Sverrisson, and Ólafur Arnalds while developing a distinct creative voice of his own. Alongside his work as a performer and composer, he is also a cultural entrepreneur, co-founding State of the Art, a festival dedicated to unexpected encounters between genres, audiences, and artistic disciplines.

In this episode, Michael and Magnús explore the role of play, curiosity, and experimentation in creative practice. Their conversation begins with Magnús’s recent concert with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, where he simultaneously served as composer, arranger, and soloist, premiering a new work, somewhat ironically titled Very Serious Music. What begins as a discussion about orchestration and performance quickly expands into a broader reflection on artistic identity, humor, and the ways titles, labels, and expectations shape how audiences experience music.

They also explore Magnús’s musical journey from jazz student to genre-defying composer, including the formative influence of Skúli Sverrisson, the making of his album Without Listening, and his fascination with the creative possibilities that emerge at the boundaries between genres.

In addition to mixing genres, Magnús mixes instruments on stage in the style of Nils Frahm. The conversation turns to his growing relationship with the rare Ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument whose expressive possibilities continue to inspire new artistic directions.

Finally, Michael and Magnús discuss State of the Art and the challenge of creating cultural platforms that encourage audiences to step outside familiar boundaries. Along the way, Magnús reflects on collaboration, improvisation, and why some of the most interesting creative work happens when people are willing to embrace surprise. He also promises that his upcoming 30th birthday concert will be clearly titled—while remaining just as playful. (This will make sense to you once you listen!)

Ása Dýradóttir is a Reykjavík-based musician and cultural leader working at the intersection of live performance and music policy. As a bass player, she has been a central figure in Iceland’s independent music scene, performing with Mammút and collaborating across a wide network of artists including Rakel, Kaktus Einarsson, Benni Hemm Hemm, Salóme Katrín, and Nanna from Of Monsters and Men. Alongside her work as a musician, she serves as Director of Tónlistarborg (Music City | Reykjavík), where she works to strengthen the conditions for live music in Reykjavík by connecting artists, venues, policymakers, and industry stakeholders.

In this episode, Michael and Ása explore what it means to be a “bass player” in both music and civic systems. She reflects on Mammút’s return to the stage at Iceland Airwaves after several years apart, and how the band’s relationship has shifted from ambition to presence, reclaiming the simple act of playing together. She describes their early process of writing without demos or sheet music, relying instead on memory, intuition, and the physical experience of sound, and contrasts that with the more fragmented, individual workflows that came later. Across the conversation, she returns to the idea that true creative work emerges through shared time, friction, and trust.

They also discuss her role at Tónlistarborg, where she operates less as a front-facing leader and more as connective tissue by supporting venues, advocating for policy change, and working to sustain a fragile live music ecosystem. Ása speaks candidly about the erosion of venue infrastructure in Reykjavík, the pressures facing artists and promoters, and the importance of maintaining momentum in the face of structural challenges.

Finally, she shares a deeply personal account of using music as a form of connection while caring for her parents during illness, reflecting on the relationship between sound, memory, and the brain, and why music remains one of the most powerful ways we understand and reach one another.

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.