True Stories

Bellatrix, while relative newcomers to this parish, have been on the go for almost eight years. The Icelandic quintet of four girls and one guy are stars in their homeland, where they ve released two successful albums and one EP. This month sees the launch of their first album in Ireland and Britain, It s All True, which is brimming over with exuberant pop ditties.

With nigh on a decade s experience of making music together, it s no surprise that they ve created a bloody good album. Together in one form or another since 1992, Bellatrix have become quite familiar with one another.
The band built up a steady base in their home country, becoming regulars on the gig circuit in Reykjavik. Vocalist and violinist Eliza Maria Geirdottir still speaks very fondly of music in the ould sod.
It s very good, she says. Compared to how few people live there, there are some great local bands. I think the scene is quite good because it is very competitive and people are trying to create their own sound.
Bellatrix relocated to London last summer, however.
We just wanted a little adventure, I think, giggles Eliza. We d done everything we could in Iceland, in terms of albums and touring and all that. Plus it s very expensive to be flying over to England all the time, so we just decided to go there and see what happens. We wanted to take over a bigger island.
Bellatrix promptly signed to ultra cool indie label, Fierce Panda, where they unleashed three top notch singles, Jediwannabe , The Girl With The Sparkling Eyes , more of which later, and current seven-inch, Sweet Surrender . They ve just followed this up with It s All True, an album so full of infectious chunes crying out for airplay that it could be the surprise hit of the summer.
Eliza, though, plays down expectations: I think what we want to achieve with this album is credibility and a place in the whole scene, so we can move on an do bigger and better things. We are already halfway through writing the next album now. But I hope that people like it and the more people who hear it, the better. But you never really know what s going to happen in this business we just take it as it comes.
So how did they sign up with those indie hipsters at Fierce Panda then?
They just invited us to the pub, chuckles Eliza disarmingly. We d been talking to a lot of labels since we moved to London last June and we weren t really getting anywhere with the bigger ones, who were only interested in manufactured shit. Then we heard that Fierce Panda had signed a deal with Mushroom so they had financial muscle; they called us up and said they like what we do, so we said Let s go .
And they went. Hence the album, wherein eighties keyboard quirks trade licks with loops, guitars and delicate violin, courtesy of Eliza. As well as being a classical violinist, however, this woman is also an operatically trained vocalist.
Indeed, Eliza doesn t rule out a return to her classical roots in the future, confessing to a love of singing opera, which she describes as really addictive .
But for now, it s full time on Bellatrix, who are playing the festival circuit suring the summer, writing their next album and planning further live dates in Autumn, including a return to these shores.
But we re getting too far ahead of ourselves. Back to the songs that make up It s All True. Some of the tracks, particularly the aforementioned The Girl With The Sparkling Eyes , seem to be about very strong, dominant women, a kind of Girl Power the Spice Girls never exuded!
No, Eliza laughs, they re just about normal girls.
But it s certainly not the usual take on boy-meets-girl?
Maybe it s because we come from a different culture, she muses. In Iceland, the culture is very much just get on with it . There s no flirting thing going on you just go up to somebody and say Hello. I like you. Of course, it s also taken from my own experience and I am a full-on person, and from the experience of the other girls in the band too, because I write about them as well. I dunno, maybe we re just super-vixens, but I m hoping that most girls are like that.
It s All True is out now on Fierce Panda.