Born and raised in Reykjavík, Lára Rúnars developed a love of music while growing up listening to her father playing and recording with legendary Icelandic band Grafík. Through him Lára was first introduced to artists such as Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Nick Cave. Lára released her first album, Standing Still in Iceland in 2003 and the following year saw her collaborate with Damien Rice, both performing live and recording together. Lára was inspired by Stina Nordenstam and the Cardigans for her second album Þögn (Silence) in 2006 performing songs on that album in Icelandic.

Her infectious breakthrough album Surprise was released in October 2009 on Icelandic indie Record Records and is a delicious slice of indie-pop. The album contains a number of hit singles, including Surprise, I Wanna Be and In Between.

Lára has been described by influential music blog Audioporn in 2010 as “Iceland’s next international star ready to follow the footsteps of Björk and Emilíana Torrini”. The last 12 months has seen her being picked up by Q Magazine, MTV, NME, Filter Magazine and as a Eurosonic 2011 highlight for Clash Magazine. Her recent summer 2011 tour of Germany and Switzerland saw sell out shows in Berlin and 2,000 people attending her Blue Balls Festival appearance in Lucerne. Not bad for her first shows on mainland Europe.