EPK

 

-About-

Mikael Máni is a guitarist and composer from Iceland whose music blends mood-driven jazz with cinematic storytelling. His most recent releases include Guitar Poetry (ACT, 2024), praised by DownBeat with a 4½-star review, and Innermost (Smekkleysa, 2023), which won Album of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards. His earlier work has been featured on BBC Radio, and one of his tracks has reached over 1.2 million streams on Spotify. Raised in a household filled with more than 10,000 LPs from his father’s record shop, Mikael grew up surrounded by music and first discovered guitar at age 12. Today he creates intimate, lyrical compositions that balance improvisation with cinematic scope, often collaborating with leading Nordic and international musicians. His upcoming album Half Sun continues this path, weaving moods and stories into cinematic instrumental jazz.

-Press photos-

 

All images can be downloaded for press purposes in the download section below

 

-Quotes-

“Mani et al offer innovation and tradition, reassurance and challenge. Highly recommended. - 5/5”
— Michael Boncza - Morning Star
“There’s a strong sense of wide-eyed dreaming about some of the compositions… the music blurring the waking and sleeping worlds. - 3/5”
— Jazzwise - Robert Shore
“The band should be praised for their subtle approach, improvisations full of finesse, sensitivity to dynamics and advanced harmony… an album you can enjoy endlessly and it is definitely worth staying with this album for a longer time. -5/5”
— Marcin - Stacjaislandia
“I have enjoyed Nostalgia Machine with the use of different instrumentation, the blending of musical styles and the linear approach to the album’s construction.”
— SimplyJazzTalk Blog
“…beautiful, full of intent, moving but only with careful steps but with an inexorable beauty that compels the listener to stand and admire. -4/5”
— Kind of jazz - Rob Mallow
“…crossover work of confidently understated melodic refinement.”
— London Jazz News - AJ Dehany
“It is rare to receive an album that is as layered as Bobby. By the first listening you can tell that it’s a magnificently deep, lyrical and tender jazz album that is both rewarding and demanding. Mikael Máni is a young instrumentalist that demonstrates both outstanding guitar playing and joy in his experiments. - 4/5”
— Morgunblaðið - Ragnheiður Eiríksdóttir
“The sound is formidable… Mikael Máni is undeniably a very talented guitarist, also a charismatic composer with sharp tonal language”
— Kulturbloggen - Mats Hallberg
 

-Contact-

Booking Iceland:
email: mikaelm27@gmail.com
phone: (+354) 6591820

Booking Europe & Worldwide
management.adhdiceland@gmail.com

Other inqueries:
Phone (+354) 822-3780
e-mail: asmundj@smekkleysa.com