Rarely as a reviewer will you give a new artist the time of day, let alone the benefit of the doubt – something usually reserved for close and drunken friends, or Nick Cave. Sometimes, though, something happens, momentarily freezing the cruel instinct to turn a tune off. Perhaps it was the sheer effrontery of it – daring to sing ‘Oh my darling Clementine’ in the first line of a song, and expecting to be taken seriously. Perhaps it was the curiousity, as outside of the Sugarcubes and Bjork my knowledge of Icelandic songwriters is limited (I never got round to Sigur Ros, o.k).
Either way, I thank my lucky stars, because these songs from Hraun, Icelandic folk troubadours and mood-swingers, are a thing of rare beauty. Clementine is fragile, humble and utterly captivating, thanks to singer Svavar Kn�tur’s sweet Sam Beam inflected tones. The song waltzes gracefully between moods enchanting effortlessly, and has now become a firmly fixed favourite on the Three Monkeys turntable (albeit a virtual one).
Hraun means lava in Icelandic, apparently, and is thus apt to this slow-moving fiery and elemental music. While from Reykjavik, there’s plenty of americana – of the best kind – on show here, to the point where you’ll be absent mindedly following the haunting ‘Astarsaga ur fjollunum’ for minutes before realising you understand nothing!
The band have already gained critical praise from the NME (not that we care), and have won a BBC World Service ‘Next Big Thing’ competition, and based on the songs on display here, their next album ‘two tears for my honey’ should bring them deserved recognition far and wide
The band describe themselves as “not a band of spoiled brats, but human beings, marinated in the joys and pains of human existence”. Based on the one live track included, So let us drink, human existence isn’t the only thing they’ve been marinated in – a raucous upbeat tune that makes you itch to go and see one of their by-now legendary jamming sessions in the Cafe Rosenberg. A perfect band to party to, and to gently ease in the day after the night before.
Brilliant.