Watch Icelandic singer/songwriter RAKEL in session

The Akureyri-born Rakel Sigurðardóttir's debut album a place to be – released last year – is a musical scrapbook of her friendships, and was ushered into being through Ólafur Arnalds’ OPIA Community which seeks to strengthen the bonds between like-minded creatives.

"11:11 is tied to that feeling of looking back on something that didn’t quite work out, and realising the ways you might not have shown up as fully as you wanted to," Sigurðardóttir tells Best Fit. "There’s a kind of quiet regret in it, but also care and softness."

"For me, it’s less about big dramatic heartbreak and more about the little details, the smells, the weather, the memories that linger. It’s a way of processing all of that, gently. Singing it feels a bit like rereading an old letter, bittersweet, but important."

"The first lyric was actually sparked by something really small but oddly poetic: I noticed that the man who used to live in the basement of my building had moved out. There was always a very intense smell that followed this man, and used to fill the whole hallway, maybe not very pleasant. One day it was just gone. That absence, the way you can feel someone’s departure even in something as subtle as a smell, triggered the rest of the song. It became this meditation on memory, time, and the pieces of someone that linger after they’re no longer around."

The session - which you can watch above - is supported by Record in Iceland, a reimbursement scheme offered by Iceland’s Ministry of Culture, Innovation and Higher Education that gives anyone who records their music in Iceland a 25% refund on recording costs incurred in Iceland. All you need to do is submit the total cost related to your recording – including travel, wages and even post-production like mixing and mastering. The refund will go through in the following quarter. It’s that easy – and makes Iceland the smart and easy choice for anyone wanting to find an inspiring location to record their next album.

Up next for Sigurðardóttir are eight dates supporting Of Monsters and Men across Europe in March followed by appearances at SXSW, Tallinn Music Week, Focus Wales and Primavera Sound. She'll also support John Grant back in Reykjavík this June.