Okay, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what's going on for me as a musician today in my nice and calm hometown of Akureyri, Iceland. First off, for me myself, there's a lot going on. Mixing is freshly done for my second album which took longer than I wanted it to, but I'm glad it's ready. It's also freshly mastered and the first single is already scheduled. So the next few steps for me is to get artwork ready for the album and next two singles which is always fun.

I feel this next album captures me at a very DIY period where me and my friend just recorded all guitars, and bass in one day and drums and vocals in another. And for the sound it's much rawer than my previous album, The Mancave Tapes, so in a way I was testing boundries for myself as a musician on this next album, see what sticks and what doesn't. And so it's absolutely not perfect, but that's the point; nothing ever is. It's a rather unpolished project which is interesting to me. But what I learned is from now on, I'll go into a studio and have it professionally done, that's for sure.

Regarding gigs I've got two lined up, Græni Hatturinn on my birthday, September 24th. Always wanted to play there as a solo artist. I've only done so with my previous band, Miomantis and along with locals Dream The Name and Ari Orrason. I'm, of course not popular enough to do this entirely on my own so I have warm-ups from Hugarró and Unknown Fantasy, and this is again, a gig with trials and error: see how things go. If it sells good, I might play again. If it doesn't I'll have to build myself better, and that's okay too! I've also got another gig lined up in November with Basilisk and Unknown Fantasy at a new bar/venue in Akureyri called LEYNI. It's a really fresh, cozy spot and it'll be fun to bring some rock and roll the people there in the cold lonely winter nights.

As for me personally, there's also been a lot of growth for me and it contributes to me as a musician, especially regarding my stage presence and stamina. And that is my current weight loss journey. I've been on that since February, and sure, it hasn't been perfect. Like with everything, there's always ups and downs and that's okay. But I feel lighter on stage so it's easier and more fun to perform and I can really put myself into it more than I used to be able to. I'm under 100 kilograms now, I used to weigh about 125 kilograms last december.

So I feel there's a lot of growth with me personally and with more releases and more gigs on the horizon so I'm excited for the current growth of music in my hometown!