He concentrates on creating inspiring melodies and gentle but finely observed, often wry and quirkily observant lyrics. Since the release of his debut album, he has toured non-stop.
In 2006, in between performing at many major European festivals, Teitur started to record his second album. Stay Under The Stars, debuting in the Top 10 in Denmark, subsequently going Gold there and earning him the accolade of Best Singer at the Danish Music Awards (Grammies) in March 2007.
Teitur was born and spent his early years in The Faroe Islands. These bleak, but beautiful windswept, rain lashed, rocky outcrops in the Atlantic are due north of the UK and lie roughly mid way between Norway and Iceland. First settled by Irish monks and later Vikings, the Faroes were initially part of Norway and then latterly Denmark, of which they are still an autonomous region. The forty seven thousand Faroese who inhabit the Faroes are fiercely independent, even refusing to join the EU with Denmark. They retain their own language, with Danish only being used for commerce. It was this isolated upbringing with an inevitable sense of alienation and separation that informs much of Teitur's writing.
"Music is one of our main social activities," says Teitur. "There are always instruments in our homes. I started on my own music at thirteen, but the guitarist in my band was so much better than me and I was left at the back, playing acoustic. However I wrote all the lyrics from the start and in English. My native Faroese music is a part of me, but what really attracted me was pop music. Pop is almost all in English, which I find it gives me a bigger ocean of vocabulary," Teitur has more than one ocean of vocabulary to choose from as he speaks five languages. He finally decided to leave the islands, as many young Faroese do, at the age of 17 to study in Denmark. Then after a brief spell in Rome, he decided to base himself in London in 2002.
In mid 2007, Teitur started to pull together the songs that make up his third album: The Singer:
"The songs are written over a time-span of one to seven years. They are stories of events and experiences - like drinking beers on a musty hotel floor with mysterious blues musician Chris Whitley, before he died of cancer (Legendary Afterparty), or stories that I have come across in my lifetime..."
In October Teitur travelled to an island off the coast of Sweden called Gotland with his sound engineer Jonas and arranger Trondur, and recorded the album on a 19th century Swedish Princess' estate, normally a summer destination as a hotel, but at this time of year a beautiful, windswept and somewhat deserted piece of tranquility; interrupted only by the various musicians and singers who came to play or sing on the album, who all stayed at the hotel, during their work on the album.
"This album was made in tranquility and isolation. The result is a very natural and somehow nordic sounding record. Furthermore it has similarities to a musical or a book of short stories."
"On the cover of the album is a the picture of a cartoon figure which stands inside the room of an empty dollhouse. It looks almost like a skeleton and it has no face. The figure is a caricature of "The Singer" "
Umbrellas In the Rain
Teitur Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pop up in the windows
Because we're not together
They're out on a parade
Like workers of a union
We're the only ones who can see it!
Teitur's song Umbrellas In the Rain is a melancholic and atmospheric piece that captures the emotional pain of a relationship ending. The lyrics reveal a sense of loneliness and isolation as the singer looks out the window and sees umbrellas popping up in the rain, symbolizing the way people try to shield themselves from the storm. However, the umbrellas also symbolize the distance between the singer and his former lover, and the sense that they are now alone in their pain.
The second verse of the song elaborates on this idea, with the umbrellas described as "workers of a union". This adds a political dimension to the song, suggesting that the pain of heartbreak is something that unites people and transcends individual experience. However, the final two lines of the chorus - "We're the only ones who can see it!" - suggest that the pain of the singer and his lover is also something that sets them apart from others, and that their experience is unique and private.
Overall, Umbrellas In the Rain is a poignant and beautifully-written song that captures the complexities and contradictions of love and heartbreak. Through its use of metaphor and symbol, it evokes a sense of the universal human experience of longing, loss, and the search for connection.
Line by Line Meaning
Umbrellas in the rain
The sight of umbrellas in the rain is a reminder of our separation
Pop up in the windows
The umbrellas appear in the windows, a reflection of people seeking refuge from the pouring rain
Because we're not together
The umbrellas symbolize the distance between us, as we are not together to share the rain
They're out on a parade
The umbrellas, though used for practical reasons, are visually striking and create a spectacle like a parade
Like workers of a union
The umbrellas together represent a union or a collective force, united against the rain
We're the only ones who can see it!
Despite the beauty and significance of the umbrellas, only we are able to fully appreciate and understand their meaning to us
We're the only ones who can see it!
Once again emphasizing that this is something unique and special to us, something that only we can truly comprehend
Contributed by Reagan E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.