Amiina - Kurr
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Free Music Notes for Kurr
Free Music Review: Wintertime music
Hit: 4 Stars
To be honest, Amiina didn't really grab me the first time I listened. It flowed in one ear, out the other, and left me thinking, "What was I listening to again?"
But I started liking them after a few more listens. Their ethereal little ambient pop tunes sound like Sigur Ros with chimes and violins (minus the vocals), and their debut album "Kurr" is full of that kind of stuff. A few songs are too ambient for their own good, but the majority hit the target.
It opens on a hesitant note with "Sogg," a delicate little wintry melody that sounds like it was tapped out on a toy piano during a snowstorm. It's basically a pretty little cycling melody doesn't really go anywhere, but it serves as a pretty good introduction.
That is left to the gentle "Rugla," a folky melody that is slowly overtaken by a web of violins and assorted strings, and some muted little whoops in the background. "Glámur" is a pretty, stately little tune on metallophone, smothered in strings, which wouldn't sound out of place in a music box.
That sets the theme for the rest of the album -- haunting, chilly pop tunes, folky melodies doused in violins, mournful little string ballads, ghostly interludes of wailing synth. And toward the end, the songs get really full-bodied -- a melancholy horn tune, and the swirling, interwoven "Lóri."
It does have a few dud songs, though. The finale "Boga is a good song, but almost ten minutes in length. "Lúpína" sounds like bamboo wind chimes -- not bad, but rather superfluous -- and "Sexfaldur" simply doesn't come to life until the very end.
It somehow doesn't come as a surprise that Amiina sounds like Sigur Ros trapped in a music box -- apparently they have collaborated together, and had a part in the "Screaming Masterpiece" documentary along with Mum, Bjork and other bands. So their pretty, ethereal sound isn't a surprise, although it takes some time to get into it and enjoy its layers.
Their ethereal sound mainly comes from the chiming metallophone, glockenspiel, the airy windy synth, and the tinkly electric piano. But they also weave in some stately classical string arrangements -- violin, viola and cello -- as well as some gentle harmonium. And in some of the catchier and/or folkier songs, they ground the melodies with acoustic guitar.
It's a very smooth, ethereal, wintry kind of music, and Amiina don't really break it up with vocals. No vocals, no lyrics. There are a few songs where they murmur non-words like "la la," but these seem more like another instrument than actual singing. I will say this -- they have very pretty, fairyline voices, which doesn't hurt the music's impact.
"Kurr" is a solid debut for a talented Icelandic quartet. They need to strengthen a few weak spots, but overall it's very pretty.
Free Music Review: Chilly + Unique Ambient Post-Rock from Iceland
Hit: 4 Stars
Known primarily as the four pixies (decked out in pseudo-spinster garb) who traveled the world opening for Sigur Ros as the height of their Takk fame, Amiina - María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Hildur Ársęlsdóttir, Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir and Sólrún Sumarlišadóttir - have since become the next great hope of the minimalist, symphonic slowcore movement. The most unlikely of rock stars, these four Icelandic ladies (who began as a string quartet) are currently wowing the world with their debut album, Kurr, and for some reason the U.S. music press sits heavy, collectively twiddling their thumbs.
Kurr is not a pop album, not even close. Rather, it's a late night soundtrack for the tragically hip, or maybe the comfortably un-hip, depending on your standard of life. Draped in Moog flourishes and sparse, distant vocals, Kurr's backbone is its lush, understated string compositions. Amiina's debut will put you to sleep - but for just this once, that's a good thing, though it may be appropriate in the winter months.
The easiest reference point here is Sigus Ros' own ( ) album (an album Amiina added strings to), though Kurr is much more subtle and unheroic. Simply, these ladies just want to float around somewhere in the background of their listener's consciousness, inducing pleasant space-outs and momentary euphoria. Included in their arsenal of instruments are a digital piano, a celtic harp, a harmonium, a melodica, a celesta, pretty much every string instrument you could imagine, a kalimba, a Gideon harp and, naturally, a "musical saw." This extensive collection of uncommon instruments make for enthralling, beautifully low key compositions full of stark originality and life.
A surprisingly pleasant riff from the composition-minded Iceland flock of closet prog rock enthusiasts, Kurr is one of the better debut albums so far of 2007, even if it does lack variety, hooks, drums and everything else most stateside listeners are used to. So take a Benydryl (or an ambian, or whatever), stretch out and enjoy this excellent pocket symphony from Iceland's latest, greatest troupe of spinster string-dancing babes.
Free Music Review: Amusing grace
Hit: 4 Stars
This graceful piece has all the bells, strings, xylophone and chime influences which will catch you ears in a kind way. Its intense but soft musicality with seducing tones can induce you to remember Amelie's soundtrack: it has that instant classicality to it with high pitched almost naive and playful piano keys and steady violins. It is also haunting but not in a dark way, more in that grounded but light folk touch. It's at that edge where it avoids marshmallowy syrup, but it remains purely "musical" -not pop, nor rock, no vocals.
Amiina manage to guide you with grace through different types of instruments and their blending makes for one unique genre, agreeable in all, with an innocent vanilla like taste although it could be perceived to some as rather identical, one from the other song. I think the interest here it's the originality and calmness that breathes through as well as the playfulness of the whole: it does have the Iceland touch without the pretentiousness maybe of higher valued "stars" and other "rock" influences.
"Kurr" will fit into someone's collection who seeks to diversify and keep abreast of the current trends without falling into the pop-group-flavor-of-the-week syndrome.
Free Music Review: Swell!
Hit: 4 Stars
I grabbed this album on a whim and have to say I am really pleased with the leap of faith. Upon my first listen, I was afraid that band was just the middle ground between Mum and Sigor Ros, however, with each progressive listen this quartet sunk deeper into my brain.
The album has a really nice natural sound to it. It seems to me that all parts were hand played on an diverse range of analog instruments. It doesn't sound to my ears that they have any samples going on and I have say that this is one of the albums greatest strengths. It really feels like four people conversing musically with each other and responding in a very raw compelling way. It's all very beautiful and delicate.
If you like Mum, Sigor Ros, Bjork, Cocteau Twins or CocoRosie and the like- I imagine you will have a good time with album. I also recommend this for folks who like sound scaping things along the lines of Robert Fripp or fans of Miles Davis- In A Silent Way.
Free Music Review: Three Stars for Total Neutrality
Hit: 3 Stars
It's hardly right for me to review this album at all. I came upon it only by noticing a review that called for "bombing Iceland" as the home of the devil inhabiting such music. Truly incomprehenisble! It's dreamy stuff, or rather the background music for daydreams, which are not such bad things after all.
On the other hand, to compare this to Arvo Part, as the editorial reviewer does, is equally bizarre. Part's music is powerful, disturbing, profound... anything but dreamy... and it occurs on a much more complex acoustical/musical level. If you do like Kurr, you might be ready to graduate to Arvo Part or Erkki Sven-Tuur, an Estonian composer whose compositions DO what Kurr only hints at. Or you might go back toward stronger folk roots with the Swedish group Vasen, especially their CDs without percussion.
I'll just declare neutrality about Kurr. I neither like nor dislike their sound, but I certainly don't plan to bomb anyone.