by Cyclone Wehner

Iceland's GusGus may have just released a new album with the title, "This Is Normal", but the collective is anything but a regular pop group. Indeed, other bands would hire top publicists to invent tales like the ones that appear in the official GusGus biography. Yet Biggi Thorarinsson insists their blurb is based on the truth.

GusGus is a cross-generational electronic collective comprised of a pop star, actor, DJ, photographer, computer programmer, politician and two directors. (The group's sole female member, teen prodigy Hafdis Huld, recently quit.)

In 1995, video clip directors Siggi Kjartansson and Stefan Arni elected to make a short film, "Pleasure", about partner-swapping in their hometown of Reykjavik. The project never came off, so the producers decided to make an electronic album with the assembled cast instead. They brought in two 'electronic gurus', Biggi and DJ Herb Legowitz, to guide the ensuing LP, "Polydistortion". This pair put their own project, "T-World", on hold for GusGus, but Biggi feels no immediate desire to go back to it. 'We're able to do a lot of the things that we want to do within GusGus -- both the instrumental tracks and, of course, pop music, the GusGus music, and remixes. So we haven't felt the urge to do "T-World" stuff.'

Two years after the release of "Polydistortion" in Iceland, the LP was picked up by an impressed A&R rep at the London label 4AD (sometime home of 80s Indie types the Cocteau Twins and The Pixies). Suddenly GusGus was an international act, touring Europe and the US. They have since built up a cult-like status. 'Touring was a very joyful experience for me and all of us,' recollects Biggi, 'because we had a very good response to almost every gig that we played. And, with the concerts, it brings out all the abilities that we have together. For GusGus, the concert is the peak of our productions and our capabilities.'

Since GusGus' humble beginnings, the collective has developed into an autonomous entity. Various members not only handle all the production, but also shoot the videos and design the artwork. They have even set up their own label, Elf 19, with a view to fostering some of the many other acts on the Icelandic scene. Considering the small population, the country has an abundance of pop acts. 'It's distant from other countries, so there's not a lot of bands coming to play here,' reasons Biggi, 'and so, basically, we have to create our own scene.'

Now, some four years after GusGus made their low-key Scandinavian debut, comes the bugged-out follow-up, "This Is Normal", which should only serve to consolidate their fan-base. How does Biggi feel the two compare? 'I think the first album was made from the experience of seeing what would come out of the people who were thrown in together doing this album -- you know, what those people would be able to do. So that album was more of a kind of experiment, but of course a very joyful one. But after touring behind that album I think it made the band become more of a whole. Basically it brought all these individuals together and made them understand each other better. And so I think this album is much more focussed.'

The first single, "Ladyshave", shows the GusGus humour at work. 'I think the lyrics came from Siggi, and I think it's basically coming from his interest in things that are on the edge of being considered normal or abnormal or kinda taboo or non-taboo. And this is also an experience that he has taken an interest in. And it is also about the kind of trust that is needed in a relationship to be able to do that kind of activity. So there are a lot of things going on within that lyric.'

So are all the myths about Scandinavians true? To what extent do these Icelanders have a more sexually liberated society? 'Well, it's a weird mixture of conservatism and looseness,' Biggi laughs. 'We are, of course, Scandinavian, and we tend to be very loose about these matters.'

The album, "This Is Normal", and new single, "Starlovers", are out through Shock.