by Lawren Ussery

Friday night, my husband and I had the chance to enjoy our kid-less freedom and check out a late night concert in LA. One of our all-time favorite bands, Sigur Ros, is on tour promoting their first full-length film, ‘Heima’ (‘At Home’ in English).

The film, a documentation of several free unannounced shows the band put on in Summer 06, was beautiful and moving. I was affected to the core as I saw footage of the band performing in perfect harmony for their concertgoers in the untouched vastness of their homeland, Iceland.

After a brief Q&A the band put on, I was clear of one thing: the intention of the film (documenting the tour) and the film’s outcome were two completely separate things. It seems that during the tour, Sigur Ros had a chance to reconnect with Iceland and recall the muse they found in just being there. Iceland is a series of oxymorons and juxtapositions, from cozy villages and ocean views to freezing god-forsaken wastelands. Ironically, the Icelandic landscape is much like the crescendos and quiet of Sigur Ros’ sound. They realized that home had been their inspiration all along.

Oftentimes we look for far off, exotic sources of creativity to avoid the ‘cliché’ and ‘typical’. Drawing from those things we see everyday, however, and introducing them in a way unique to you, is one of the greatest challenges of creativity. The rubber hits the road when what you have to work with has been taken for granted and seen a million times before. For me it’s finding a fresh way to bring life to the chocolate-brown-and-pink color scheme; for you it’s finding the priceless shot at a venue you’ve booked a thousand times before.

Whatever the case may be, embrace your surroundings; find the genius at ‘heima’. Look a little closer at what you thought was boring. There is always a way to make the common beautiful and the typical unique.