A little over a month ago, towards the end of July, my sweetie-wife and I listened to the NPR news/comedy program Wait, Wait — Don’t Tell Me as we drove to the world-famous San Diego Zoo for our Sunday excursion. That week’s guest was singer/songwriter Laufey (English pronunciation of her name is basically LAY-VEY).

NPR

Laufey is an Icelandic woman whom I had never heard of before this episode. She came off as funny, intelligent, and charming in the brief interview which comprises the middle segment of the weekly program. In the interview, the host questioned how Laufey became attracted to jazz, not something one normally expects from a currently popular Icelandic musician.

For the last several years I have been getting more and more into bossa nova jazz, and the music it has inspired over the decades, so I naturally had to at least give some of her recordings a try. Luckily, I subscribe to Apple Music and that meant as I drove to work, I could simply ask Siri to play random songs by Laufey.

Man, I was hooked right away.

She sings both classic standards from the Great American Songbook and her own compositions. The music is unique and deeply personal. It’s easy to see why when I looked into a performance coming up in San Diego, the program was already sold out.

It’s so nice that even now I can still discover and fall in love with new musicians and their art.