Photo by Jenn Squires
LINDY VOPNFJORD • STATE OF THE HEART • MAY 22, 2020
Singer/Songwriter Lindy Vopnfjörd stays true to his roots through storytelling on his new, eighth studio album, State of the Heart, while the production flair and flourishes refresh his folk sound with a modern feel. The openingmoments of the title track carry the audience in this new direction, as he sings: “This was meant to be a protest song, but the politics were wrong / Not a time to be sublime / let’s leave the politics behind.”
State of the Heart not only reflects Lindy’s personal evolution toward a new love and revolution as a tighter writer, but also, the new life producer Danny Michel breathes into Lindy’s style. One of Canada’s darling musical talents, an esteemed collaborator with Belizean Garifuna Collective and Astronaut Chris Hadfield, and creator of the web series, “Dan’s Space Van,” Michel’s production enhances the 10 songs with inventive sounds, hooks, licks and kicks to package the project perfectly. Lindy’s eighth studio album,
State of the Heart displays the synergy between the sound and vision of a meticulous perfectionist from a Southern Ontario rural-woods studio and the soul of a self-described ‘joyologist and freedom nerd’, newly transplanted to Hamilton, Ontario. The resulting energy enlivens the beautifully crafted tunes. The pulses check? Vibrant, strong,enduring.
Compelled to write the world a song, Lindy’s “Look Me In the Eye” pays homage to environmental activist Greta Thunberg, while “No Place Left to Land” soundtracks the 2019 documentary Margaret Atwood: A Word after a Word after a Word is Power, featured at Toronto’s prestigious Hot Docs showcase. Passionate about both human rights and community action, Lindy also organized ‘HAMILTON LOVES YOU: Show of Support for Human Rights Activist Kidus Mehalu and Family’ in February of this year.
Since his first studio album in 1995, Lindy’s original music has moved audiences. He’s left listeners in love with his mile-wide smile and magnificent talent at house parties and bars, embassies, theatre halls (supporting Canadian duo, Whitehorse), and large festivals, including Montreal’s Osheaga (with Ian LeFeuvre and TodorKobakov as the electronic pop group, Major Maker), Reykjavik Folk Festival, and Hillside Festival. On You Will Know When It’s Right (2019), Vopnfjord collaborated with Iceland’s legendary band, Nydonsk, to whom Lindy sang along growing up in his musical Icelandic family.
