EIVØR Wins USA Songwriting Competition

She’s serenaded crowds from the UEFA Champions League to The Game Awards, but on her latest album, Eivør reached several new milestones. The Faroe Islands superstar performed songs off ENN to sold-out crowds from Red Rocks to Hellfest.

Now, to kick off 2025 ahead of her upcoming North American tour, Eivør is proud to announce that she has been named a winner of the 29th USA Songwriting Competition. Her gently pulsating first single from ENN, “Jarðartrá / Dust to Dust”, won the award for Best World music.

“I am thrilled and honored for our song ‘Jarðartrá (Dust To Dust)’ to have won the USA Songwriting Competition in the ‘World Music’ category”, Eivør says.

“The track is a joint effort between myself and the Faroes poet Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs – my long-time lyrical collaborator and dear friend.

I’m grateful to my dear Tróndur Bogason for co-production and arrangements on this track and to my band mates Mikael, Per, Mattias and Theodor for generously pouring your beautiful creativity into each note and each beat”.

We are grateful and truly honoured to receive this prestigious award. Thank you.”

“Jarðartrá” was an especially fitting first single for ENN. Just like the extreme contrasts that define life at her home in the Faroe Islands, the song is dark yet glistening, swirling but propulsive. Eivør inhabits the perspective of a wounded mother earth, who calls to us with a steadily thumping bassline that’s as dark and warm as our planet’s molten core. “Come lie down in my blue embrace”, she sings, reaching into her operatic register, as if beckoning us toward the light.

“When I wrote this song, I envisioned the earth in its rawest elements: oceans, volcanoes, storms, soil”, Eivør remembers. “We all have echoes of these elements within us, but maybe we tend to forget that we are part of nature and its endless circle of decay and growth”.

ENN is now available on Season of Mist. Order & Stream at https://orcd.co/eivorenn

Hear Eivør perform the award-winning “Jarðartrá” and other songs from her world-renowned, 25-year discography next month when she tours North America with Sylvaine. Their shows in Toronto and San Francisco are already sold out. Tickets for Seattle, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Montreal and Silver Springs are all moving fast.

Get tickets at eivor.com

Eivør USA & Canada Tour 2025 w/ special guest Sylvaine

February 2 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl [TICKETS]
February 4 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre [TICKETS][LOW TICKETS]
February 5 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom [TICKETS]
February 7 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord [SOLD OUT]
February 8 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco [TICKETS][LOW TICKETS]
February 11 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall [TICKETS]
February 12 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater [TICKETS]
February 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center [TICKETS][SOLD OUT]
February 15 – Madison, WI @ Majestic [TICKETS]
February 16 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall [TICKETS]
February 18 – Toronto, ON @ Great Hall [SOLD OUT]
February 19 – Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount [TICKETS][LOW TICKETS]
February 21 – Somerville, MA @ Somerville Theatre [TICKETS]
February 22 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg [TICKETS]
February 23 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore [TICKETS][LOW TICKETS]

Eivør and Sylvaine put together a playlist of their favorite songs to set the scene for their North American tour. Listen to their choice cuts off ENN and Eg Er Framand, as well as the soundtracks to The Last Kingdom and God of War Ragnarök.

Stream their collaborative playlist at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7k4ImSEttiL9O6gOQ1tmrn

Of course, fans can support Eivør by buying merchandise at any stop along her tour. But you don’t have to wait! Her new line of ENN-themed apparel is now available to order online, here.

Tracklist
1. Ein Klóta (5:44)
2. Jarðartrá (4:47) [WATCH]
3. Hugsi Bert Um Teg (3:25) [WATCH]
4. Purpurhjarta (4:27)
5. ENN (7:11)
6. Lívsandin (4:35)
7. Upp Úr Øskuni (5:01) [WATCH]
8. Gaia (5:10)
Total runtime: 40:25

Eivør calls her Nordic home in the remote Faroe Islands a landscape of extremes. Sitting in the North Atlantic Ocean just above Scotland and southeast of Iceland, with a total population of about 50,000, the climate is “full of contrasts—very dark, heavy winters and bright summers.” Growing up in a small village there, of about 400 people, it’s those contrasts that have inspired Eivør’s music throughout her career.

Often considered to be one of the most prolific and unique Nordic artists of her generation, Eivør has released 11 studio albums to date, crossing musical genres and always pushing the envelope of the expected. Awarded with the Nordic Council Music Price in 2021, Eivør’s musical journey continues to fascinate and has seen her perform across the globe; from Europe’s biggest festival stages to providing the soundtrack to Netflix’s hit series The Last Kingdom and the video game God of War: Ragnarök.

Her new album ENN ties back to Eivør’s Nordic roots. Most of the lyrics, sung entirely in Faroese, were penned in collaboration with the Faroese poet Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs. Eivør calls the lyrics to the title track especially “hardcore.” The song is about war—“the wars that are going on in the world especially lately, but that have always been going on,” Eivør says, “and how to find a glimpse of light in this overwhelming darkness.” The guttural penultimate track, “UPP ÚR ØSKUNI / RISE FROM THE ASHES,” is a thrilling outlier mixing growling beatboxing with visceral throat singing (it’s certainly Eivør’s most metal moment).

ENN stands out among Eivør’s discography as a bold new venture. Her debut for Season of Mist, the album leans heavier into dark electronics. Her new Prophet-5 synthesizer hardly made it out of the box before she keyed up “HUGSI BERT UM TEG/STILL JUST YOU”, a swooning bit of dream-pop that dances like the colors of the milky way.

On a grand scale, ENN follows a cosmic arc. The title track is a symphonic, war-torn space odyssey. But the album also dwells on more earthly concerns. Lead single “JARÐARTRÁ/DUST TO DUST” is told from the perspective of a wounded mother earth, who calls to us with a steadily thumping bassline that’s as dark and warm as our planet’s molten core. “Come lie down in my blue embrace”, Eivør sings, reaching into her operatic register, as if beckoning us toward the light.

On ENN, Eivør moves heaven and earth.

Recording line-up:
Eivør: Vocals, Guitars
Mattias Kapnas: Piano, Rhodes and Synths
Mikael Blak: Bass & Synths. Guitars on ‘Upp úr øskuni’
Per I Højgaard Petersen: Drums & Soundscaping
Strings performed by Lýra:
1st violin: Sigrún Harðardóttir
2nd violin: Sigrún Kristbjörg Jónsdóttir
Viola: Karl James Pestka
Cello: Unnur Jónsdóttir
Choir on ‘Ein klóta’: Eivør, Tróndur, Hans Mols Mortensen, Greta Svabo Beck and Fred Ruddick

Recording studio
Studio Bloch (Faroe Islands), Hljóðritið (Iceland), Jardin Acoustique (France) and in Eivør’s portable studio in various corners of the world.  

Production, engineering and recording
Produced & arranged by Eivør and Tróndur

Beat production by Eivør and Per I. Højgaard Petersen

Recorded and engineered by Theodor Kapnas at Studio Bloch (Faroe Islands)

Additional recordings and engineering by Fred Ruddick at Jardin Acoustique (France)

Strings recorded by Guðmundur Kristinn Jónsson and Gestur Sveinsson at Hljóðriti (Iceland)

Mixing
Theodor Kapnas

Mastering
Robin Schmidt at 24-96 Mastering

Creative direction
Eivør and Leif Podhajsky

Artwork
Leif Podhajsky

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