Hákon Aðalsteinsson’s yearning vocals shape an atmospheric journey that travels from gothic psychedelia to the ethereal ‘Ghosts of Memphis’ instrumental and closes with acoustic driven songs to complete the listening experience.

First Light is The Third Sound’s fifth studio album. Led by Icelandic Aðalsteinsson, current guitarist of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and former member of Singapore Sling, the album further solidifies The Third Sound’s position as fundamentals of the European post-punk and psych underground.

A lot has changed for the band since the release of their self-titled debut album a decade ago. For one, they were able to upgrade from the first albums dingy, windowless, Berlin basement studio to a recording space surrounded by the fresh countryside air of Strasbourg to create an album that reflects that very evolution through time and space. The band’s writing process has become increasingly collaborative due to more permanent membership and the previously unrealised prospect of touring the UK for the first time has been transformed by exciting plans for early 2022. Amidst these changes are the unshakeable consistencies in sound and style that are both hypnotic and cinematic. The band’s characteristic dark mystique that was expertly developed on their previous 2018 album, All Tomorrow’s Shadows, is sustained. Yet, in the same breath, feelings of uplift, hope and change are unwaveringly induced through beautiful walls of sound that crash and sear. This, coupled with the album artwork and album title, creates a well-established and self-aware body of music. The LP stands as a musical guide for negotiating the trials and tribulations of the past year. 

The Third Sound are based in Berlin, but I had the pleasure of chatting with Aðalsteinsson a couple of days into his three week family trip to Columbia. Just before our interview, he had been exploring Medellín and expressed the novelty of escaping Berlin for somewhere new and warm for a short while. As well as the album, we discussed film studies, relocating to new places and collaborating with other artists such as Anton Newcombe, Tess Parks and his girlfriend Lilly Creightmore, the photographer and filmmaker behind the LP artwork. The combination of these topics really encouraged me to consider the importance of integrating the arts and respecting all artistic pursuits not as competition but as culture and community. A very thought provoking conversation was rounded off with Aðalsteinsson raising a bottle of beer to cheers the Zoom screen - onwards with his holiday.

First of all, thank you for chatting with me today. I’m a fan of The Third Sound so this is pretty cool. Could you start by telling us about your journey to creating The Third Sound?

So, I’m from Iceland. I started playing in bands there during my teenage years and I was with a band called Singapore Sling for a while. After some time, I decided to move away from Iceland because I was sick of it, as it’s a very small place. It’s beautiful but I just felt that I needed to go and explore somewhere else. I went to Prague for a winter - I was studying film and screenwriting. From there, I ended up in Italy. I had put music on hold but then I got myself an acoustic guitar and started writing songs. I felt like I needed to record it and found ways to record in Rome with some friends in cheap studios. Soon after that, I relocated to Berlin and it’s there that it really became a band. At first, I recruited people to play live in the band but over the years it's become more of a collaborative effort.

You said you studied film and screenwriting in Prague - what aspect did you focus on?

Cinema studies; I was most interested in the writing part. I wanted to explore screenwriting but then after I started the band, music kind of took over again. It’s hard to escape music once you’re into it - it doesn’t let you go. 

Do you think you’ve been able to combine your cinema studies with music?

Definitely with lyric writing. It helps you to get to the point of what you want to say in a more direct way. 

That’s so interesting. I love how your music builds cinema-scale walls of sound. How would you describe The Third Sound?

When I started making the music, I felt that I was mixing noisy elements with more gentle and simple melodies. It has developed a lot since then; it’s a big mix of things. At times, it's kind of hypnotic with influences from the 60s and shoegaze music. But there are also influences from post-punk bands. It’s very hard to put it into words.

It’s cool how The Third Sound’s music diverges so much from your previous band, Singapore Sling, who have a very raucous rock’n’roll sound.

Some of the music with Singapore Sling was even country influenced! When I first joined the band, I worked together with Henrik (Singapore Sling singer, songwriter and guitarist) on one release and we wrote a couple of songs together - I found that inspiring. His way of looking at things was even more extreme than mine in the sense that it could just be one chord of brutal sound. I was definitely inspired by that but at the same time, I have my own way of writing songs.

First Light is the band’s fifth studio album, coming out a decade after your self-titled debut. How did the creation of this album during the pandemic compare to the experience of previous releases? 

It was definitely weird in many ways because of the pandemic. But, I also think that every time it’s different with an album; it’s in a different studio, or with different people, or with changing roles between members and between albums. 

The pandemic was definitely slowing us down. At times, we couldn’t rehearse because people weren’t allowed to meet up in the same room. In a way, I think that made us more focused. So, when we actually could meet, we knew: ‘ok we need to do this’. We found a little window where the restrictions were relaxed and we went to a studio in Strasbourg, France. There, we recorded the whole album in a week. The whole band was together in the countryside with no distractions. That’s something that could never have happened when I was starting out ten years ago.

It’s definitely different from the first album on which I was doing things on my own much more. It’s more collaborative. It still works in the way that I make up demos and bring them to the band and then we arrange them together.

I love your last album All Tomorrow’s Shadows that came out in 2018; it’s a fusion of dark psych, post-punk and krautrock that creates a sombre but powerful atmosphere. The new album feels a little more uplifting. Was there a cause for this evolution in sound?

I think you’re right about that. I think the last album was darker; we recorded it in a basement studio in Berlin which had no windows and was really grim. I think it’s also about where you’re at in life at the time, you know? It definitely feels more uplifting and less dark to me. I don’t want to do an album that has exactly the same mood as the last one. I think for our band, it’s very important to keep evolving and trying out new things.

I wonder about the relationship between the album cover that oozes religious symbolism and the album title that signifies a new beginning. Is there a message to be read there?

The cover is a photograph with no added effects or filters that my girlfriend took in London. Both the image and the title are about something awakening; it’s like a morning light or some sort of change in your life. I think that’s why the artwork and the title go well together and fit with the music.

It's really cool to know that your girlfriend took the photograph. It’s amazing how the beam of light strikes perfectly in the frame and that it wasn’t edited. Is she a photographer?

She’s a photographer and filmmaker. We’ve been working together on a few things connected to this release. We’ve only been together for a year now, but we seem to work well together on projects which is a great thing.

Your European tour kicks off at the end of September. How do you feel about getting back on the road and playing live music again?

Fingers crossed! I can’t wait. It’s been way too long. I guess it’s going to be a little weird in the beginning but I’m really excited. This is the first round we’re doing in Germany and France but we have shows planned later in the year for Scandinavia and plans to come over to the UK early next year. The Third Sound has never played the UK before - we’ve had tours booked but have always had to cancel for one reason or another.

So, as well as fronting The Third Sound, you also play guitar in the brilliant Brian Jonestown Massacre. How do you manage your time being in two extremely busy and prolific bands?

I’ve been working on new material with Anton over the lockdown. We’re just waiting for the green light to book venues now. I think we recorded around sixty new songs so there’s at least three albums there.

You just have to try to be organised and focused. Usually, one band does something and then there’s a little gap and the other band does something so you can keep going. Sometimes you just have to postpone things because you’re too busy with the other band but usually you find a way to make it work. So far it’s worked out but we’ll see what happens when things get busy again!

I’m aware that you’ve been a long time collaborator with Anton Newcombe - The Third Sound’s self-titled debut was released on his record label A Recordings, Anton features on your song ‘Photographs’ and, of course, at present you’re bandmates in The Brian Jonestown Massacre. You’ve also collaborated with Tess Parks . How important to you is community and collaboration in music culture?

I think it always helps when you find like-minded people; you feel that you’re doing something that someone else understands. There are also benefits of being around people who can work together and help each other out. We have friends in Berlin who we often play with and Anton has been a huge help. When he needed a guitar player in his band, I was glad to step in. 

It’s nice that there seems to be a community centred around Berlin. 

In the later years, it definitely feels like there is a community. It wasn’t really like that when I started out in Berlin. There was a very small rock’n’roll scene because it was all focused on techno. There are lots of bands based there now. 

Article by Meg Sweeney originally written for Bad Luck Magazine.