For a Minor Reflection

For a Minor Reflection is an alternative rock band from Reykjavík, Iceland.

Their self-produced debut album Reistu þig við, sólin er komin á loft… (which translates as “Rise and shine, the sun is up”) featuring six songs lasting an hour in total, all recorded over a weekend in Iceland. The record, as well as their energetic live shows, earned them a slew of accolades, including favourable comparisons to Explosions in the Sky. Their fellow Icelanders Sigur Rós even described them as “a band with the potential to out Mogwai” and invited them on a 15 dates European tour with them in November 2008.

Starting life as a hard rock duo in a tiny garage in Reykjavík, Iceland, For a Minor Reflection morphed into an indie rock trio (for a week or so) and a blues quartet (for a little longer) before finally arriving at their current incarnation as instrumental post-rockers.

For a long time, For a Minor Reflection consisted of three long-haired teenage boys. In 2006, when the hair had been cut, Guðfinnur “Guffi” Sveinsson joined the band. Kjartan Hólm and Guðfinnur met at a college event which ended in a strip poker party at Kjartan’s house. In the end it was decided that Guðfinnur would come to a practice the day after in Jóhannes‘ garage to play the keyboards in the newly formed blues band they had been making. There were some problems though; none of them had any keyboards or could sing. Eventually they ended up being a Pink Floyd cover band for a while. After playing Pink Floyd songs constantly for a while they started playing their own material.

In 2007, they recorded and self-produced their first album: Reistu Þig Við, Sólin Er Komin Á Loft… (Rise and Shine, the Sun’s Up…). Since then, the album has been sold-out in Iceland. Next to the release, they went on tour in the United States and Canada. They were also invited by Sigur Rós to play in their European tour, consisting of 15 gigs all around Europe.

In the summer of 2009, they started recording their new album Höldum í átt að óreiðu. It has ten tracks, shorter than the songs of their first album.

Jóhannes Ólafsson quit the band in 2009, to focus more on his studies. Andri Freyr Þorgeirsson took over immediately and is now For a Minor Reflection‘s current drummer.