Danish-Faroese singer-songwriter Gunnva releases her folk/country-inspired debut album ‘Monochrome’ — a raw and honest musical diary dedicated to her family and herself. The album gathers her singles from this year into a cohesive work about finding oneself amid life’s contrasts. With songs shaped by organic instrumentation, Faroese roots, and personal stories of love, loss, and identity, Gunnva emerges as a solo artist who has carved out a sound straight from the heart inspired by acts like Bon Iver and Faroese artist Marius Ziska. Gunnva has performed at Danish acclaimed upcoming artist festival Uhørt, her singles ‘In My Heart’ and ‘One More Time’ have been in rotation on Danish national radio P5, and the major Danish music magazine GAFFA wrote about ‘Habits’ while also recommending ‘This Feeling’.
People often say that life is nothing but shades of grey. But beneath the surface lie countless contrasts—moments and emotions that are rarely spoken aloud because they carry a sense of taboo. This can happen when they feel too heavy, too small, or simply too difficult to share. Gunnva’s debut album ‘Monochrome’ dives into those very nuances. The album is a musical diary tracing her journey from the confusion of youth to the experiences of adulthood — a story about finding oneself and embracing all the shades of life.
Identity crisis and rootlessness
The album begins with Gunnva’s own experiences as a lost young woman in her early 20’s. In the opening track ‘Introduction’, she sings about searching for her “perfect self.” She has been through a long process of identity crisis and rootlessness. With a Faroese family and a childhood in the north of Denmark, she never felt she fully belonged anywhere. “I’ve always been chasing a place to belong,” she explains. “But I’ve learned that nothing has to be false just because you’re not 100 percent one thing — whether that’s nationality, genre, or personality. I can be happy, melancholic, and playful all at once.”
This realization also shaped her musical evolution. In 2021, Gunnva gained attention as a featured artist on several tracks with Danish DJ duo BOILERS, each racking up millions of streams. But despite the success, it felt like a compromise — a way of trying to fit into the industry. ‘Monochrome’ is her break with the electronic sound, a project created entirely from the heart.
Cigar box guitar and Faroese lyrics
The album captures a raw and honest universe inspired by acts like Bon Iver and Faroese artist Marius Ziska with a nostalgic touch of childhood memories. To distance herself from the DJ-era sound, Gunnva and her producer Victor Kiowsky Søyland (Tim Schou, Karen Mukupa, Eddie Chacon, among others) leaned into organic and down-to-earth textures such as slide guitar and cigar box guitar. The act of taking charge of your own decisions and realizing you must act yourself if you want to move forward is what the second song on the album, ‘In My Heart’, is about.
The cigar box guitar plays a central role on the closing track ‘Eg Vil Liva’ (I Want to Live), Gunnva’s first song in Faroese. She wrote it together with her mother, who helped her shape the lyrics. At the end of the song, she sings: “eg vil bara liva, og elska, og vedra her” (“I just want to live, and love, and be here”). A simple yet powerful line that encapsulates the album’s message of embracing every part of oneself.
Tribute to family
Gunnva dedicates ‘Monochrome’ to her family. Through the Faroese language she honors her mother, her father who was a musician himself, her husband with whom she shares a five-year wedding anniversary on the release day, their child, and the baby she is expecting early next year—a pregnancy that accompanied the making of the album.
There have also been vulnerable chapters along the way. During the process, Gunnva went through two miscarriages that could have halted both the album and the pregnancy. But pushed forward and followed her mantra of learning to embrace all the shades of life: “It isn’t about shame — it’s about shedding light on something many go through. It shouldn’t be a roadblock, but a part of the story.”
A sound from the heart
With ‘Monochrome’, Gunnva steps forward as a solo artist who has found a sound created from the heart, embracing life’s challenges. The album stands as a testament to looking beyond the monochrome and recognizing the many shades of life — while fighting on when difficulties arise.
