Kira Kira

An unpredictable dialogue of electro-acoustic pranksterism and innocent melodic pop
is at the heart of Our Map to the Monster Olympics, the new LP from the curious Icelandic
artist known to her mother as Kristin Björk, but known to us as Kira Kira.
Picking up where we left off on her 2006 LP Skotta, released on the infamous Sugarcubes-
founded Icelandic record label Smekkleysa, Our Map to the Monster Olympics is
a twisting, sometimes terrifying, often glorious and touching kaleidoscope of a record.
Swarms of fragmented voices mouth melodies through home made microphones while
contact-mic’ed Kalimba’s fight for breath in seas of beautifully damaged technicolour,
granulated shotgun beats fire from sniper positions in foreboding atmospheres- AND
YET armies of glockenspiels, brass and casio’s remind us that everything will, in fact, be
ok-
Since 1999 Kira has been a constant enigma- extremely hard to define and almost impossible
to anticipate. As a founding member of Icelandic art collective Kitchen Motors,
Kira Kira has been a pivotal figure in contemporary Icelandic music- As an artist, curator,
and master collaborator, Kira has worked with other artists such as múm, Slowblow,
and acclaimed Icelandic composer Johann Johannson. She has composed music extensively
for theatre, dance and film and created a myriad of sound and video installations
everywhere from Beijing to New York. Taking a particular interest in blurring the
lines of visual and performing arts Kira has often installed herself in gallery spaces, exhibited
her work in church towers or curious hidden places and created lasting images
of Singing black holes, dueling smoke machines and exploding cassette tapes across the
globe.
Our Map to the Monster Olympics was recorded in Iceland and Finland and draws on a
host of collaborators including: Alex Somers (Parachutes, Riceboy Sleeps), Samuli Kosminen
(múm, Kimmo Pohjonen), Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson (múm, Benni Hemm Hemm),
Hilmar Jensson (Alas No Axis) and guitarist Pétur Hallgrímsson.