Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.09.2012, Qupperneq 31

31 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 15 — 2012MUSIC
Album
Reviews
Cheek Mountain Thief
Cheek Mountain Thief
2012
www.facebook.com/
cheekmountainthief
Mountains, country-folk,
hot springs, ghosts, and all
things quaint and tinkly.
Mike Lindsay—also the frontman of UK folktronica band Tunng—has
built up a mythology for this album in which he falls in love with an
Icelander, drawing him to Húsavík and Reykjavík, where he writes
and records an album with a cast of small town characters and a who’s-who of
Icelandic krútt. That's precisely how it sounds—it has elements of the "Icelandic
sound," while retaining Lindsay's smooth British accent and the idiosyncrasies of
style that made you love or hate Tunng.
The album cover's depiction of a headdress-donned child painting a
mountain gives a first impression that this album operates in a whimsical
wonderland located somewhere between naiveté and insensitivity. That this
image is then juxtaposed against the word "thief" I can only hope is purely
incidental. Native American cultural appropriation and racial stereotyping has
become a trend with "now-generation alternative music+fashion culture" (or
what is popularly referred to as "hipsters"), and is as unfortunate as it is racist.
At first I feared this would be totally toothless MOR indie-folk, but it has its
interesting moments. Its whimsical, naive portrait of Iceland however gets a bit
queasy and at times verges on disingenuous (though if he does spend the winter
building a mountaintop house I'll swallow my words). Lindsay is still a tourist.
I look forward to hearing how his impressions of Iceland mature on the next
album. In the meantime, don't be surprised if one of these tracks turns up on the
soundtrack to the next Inspired By Iceland promotional video.
- ÞÓRIR BOGASON
Beatmakin Troopa
If You Fall You Fly
2012
facebook.com/beatmakintroopa
Not really falling, yet flying
chillfully
I must admit my ineptitude: I didn't know until relatively recently
that “chill” was an actual genre name. Seemingly it is, and it implies
something that I would've termed downtempo or lounge before, or
lumped somewhere close to trip-hop. Extreme Chill, an Icelandic collective of chill
enthusiasts, have done a great job of promoting these relaxed, groovy sounds
with regular nights and a successful summer festival.
Beatmakin Troopa (the pseudonym of Pan Thorarensen) is a key member of
the collective and his Beatmakin releases are revered within the group, as are the
collaborations he's done with his father under the name Stereo Hypnosis. On the
five-track EP ‘If You Fall You Fly,' he teams up with composer Þorkell Atlason. The
result? Very chill.
Electric and acoustic guitars are quite prominent on this release, giving it an
organic feel that may or may not remind you of something like The Album Leaf.
The guitars are usually pattern-based or provide the basic chord progression,
thus interlocking with straightforward drum grooves and smooth bass licks.
On top, Troopa has layered dreamy synths and more screechy guitars. Various
“ethnic” elements pop up here and there, most notably in the title track, a suite of
sorts that goes around the world and back in less than seven minutes. A surprise
visit from the saxophone player makes for a beautiful and unexpected moment in
“The First Touch,” as does an electric freak-out near the end of the recording.
The whole EP is remarkably consistent, providing the listener with a nice and
well-contained 25-minute journey through his own mind and the Troopa's.
- ATLI BOLLASON
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