Andervel is on the rise

When José Luis Anderson, secured his enrolment at Reykjavik's Icelandic University of the Arts, he put a random picture of his new home city as the background of his phone. He had never been to Iceland, so didn’t know where the image was taken – but was drawn to the white church with green turrets, perched serenely beside a still, blue lake; so different to the colorful, warmth of his home city, Querétaro. “It became a symbol of Reykjavik for me - I saw it and thought ‘I’m going there’”, he recalls.The image was of Frikirkjan – a Lutheran church that dates back to the early 1900s – and which for a few days each November, is transformed into one of the major music venues at Iceland Airwaves Festival. Anderson is one of the artists performing there again this year – marking one of the most important sets of his career so far. “I don’t know if I was manifesting it! But it’s one of my favourite venues, and the best place for my type of music to play. I’m going to make a special occasion of it.”As Andervel, Anderson makes brooding, acoustic-led music that adds sighing harmonies onto observant lyrics. His debut album, Ironclad and Palm trees, is the perfect soundtrack of the current autu...