Icelandic singer-songwriter Lovísa Elísabet Sigrúnardóttir simply goes by the two syllable stage name Lay Low (@lovisalaylow). Though known for her unique voice, Lay Low surprisingly didn’t start singing until her twenties when the band she performed with needed a singer and couldn’t find one. A record label obtained a demo and, impressed with Lovísa’s vocals, she subsequently became Lay Low.

Lay Low’s voice is intriguing. It’s simple, soothing, sultry and sounds like it never goes above a whisper. The same goes for the music that accompanies her voice. It’s more folk than country and has some Americana at the heart of it. The combination of the right amount of 50’s and 60’s country twang and a bit of the blues in her songs makes Lay Low’s music enchanting in an understated way. No matter how different each song is, all have a floating, relaxing quality to it. Taking a listen to “I Forget It’s There” best encapsulates Lay Low’s style.

2010 was a busy year for Lay Low. She toured internationally, making stops in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and parts of Europe, playing with such artists as April Smith, The Clientele, and Emiliana Torrini. This year, in addition to doing shows in her country, she’s currently hard at work on her third LP, which will be released in Fall 2011.

Lay Low let her fans know that she’ll be taking a different route to her upcoming album. Unlike her two English language albums, this LP will be sung in the Icelandic language with the lyrics taken from poems of Icelandic women from past centuries up to the present. Hopefully she’ll come back to the US soon after the album release to promote this Icelandic LP. I’m certainly interested to see how her American fans will react to the foreign language in a live setting.