Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.09.2015, Blaðsíða 38

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uno is the perfect place to start
a good day or end a great evening
Some years ago there was
an Icelandic band named
Lada Sport, that was one of
many mainstays in our local
grassroots music scene. Despite having
a few hits, such as “The World Is A Place
For Kids Going Far,” they eventually
split, going their separate ways. While
drummer Haraldur Leví went the way
of the beige apocalypse by starting up
Record Records, with its ‘This Is Icelandic
Indie’ compilation series, singer and
guitarist Stefnir Gunnarsson went in
completely the opposite direction with
his solo project, Japanese Super Shift.
Instead of professional twee and high
end rock dynamics, Japanese Super
Shift employs drum machine loops,
cheap-sounding synths, 8-bit album art,
and a studiously DIY sensibility. Stefnir’s
singing voice has even changed from his
days in Lada Sport, from a yelping voice
of frustration, to a slightly wan, reedy
timbre, almost like that of Jason Lytle.
You can hear all of this on ‘Double
Slit’, Stefnir’s second solo release as
Japanese Super Shift. In songs such as
the opener, “Hushed,” and “His Word,”
bright, glaring synth sounds and noodling
lines are paired with rickety drums that
have an arrythmic quality to them; the
main musical influence seem to have
been old computer and console games.
However, the lyrics are at complete
odds with the thoroughly naïve music.
While songs such as “2 A.M” talk of his
attempts to just get high, many tracks
openly muse on the singer’s inner pain
and illness. “His Word” describes a man’s
cruel treatment of his female partner, with
Stefnir pleading “He knows it hurts/He
couldn’t care less/How can a man be so
cruel?”, while “Tragedy” goes full slacker
melodrama, openly asking you to imagine
losing your child before comparing it to
a woman “living in a war zone” who gets
her child in a bag, Stefnir mewing “this is
what’s left of your son.”
While the album’s music and
lyrics often grate uncomfortably against
each other, and it suffers from lack of
a truly killer track, there are moments
when it all comes together, such as on
“Confined,” and “In And Out Of Sync,”
with DIY funk synths and a rather gloomy
pop atmosphere. It raises the listening
experience of ‘Double Slit’ to that of being
pleasant, rather than merely inoffensive.
- BOB CLUNESS
Composer/violinist Una
Sveinbjarnardóttir’s new
album of violin solos is titled
‘Umleikis’, or “playing around.”
Una is best known for her role in the
Icelandic Symphony, performing and
recording for countless national and
international pieces. Originally intending
to make an album of old and new solo
violin works written by various composers,
Una cut her finger before the ‘Umleikis’
recording sessions commenced, and the
plan changed drastically. The resulting
album is a much more intimate venture,
a collection of personal compositions and
improvisations, recorded in 2012 at the
Ísafjörður church.
The album’s three best tracks,
“More,” “Links,” and “Bræla,” originated
as warm-up studies for the violin, prep for
strenuous concerts and limbering up for
the fingers. Paganini would be proud of
this fiery display of sixteenth-note runs,
double-stops (playing two strings at
once), and sparkling high-range jumps.
Other exceptional moments glitter like
stars within more somber passages: the
harmonics jumping over the strings in
“Kater,” and the siren song in “Requiem
For Ghengis,” the concluding track.
Other pieces on the album fall
prey to the most difficult aspect of
writing music for a solo instrument: the
lack of a counterpoint, something to set
against the main melodic line. Even some
pizzicato (plucked notes) or percussive
bowing effects would liven the texture.
There is also nary a major-scale work to
give a glimpse of cheer, or even a change
of tonality to more modal or exotic
passages for contrast.
‘Umleikis’ reads more as a
collection of somber and understated
works than the impressive centerpieces
it contains. Nevertheless, Una’s innate
sense of string phrasing and a focus on
the tonal qualities within the ranges of
her instrument give the album a dark
edginess, not unlike the solitary journey
on the roads of the Westfjörds.
- NATHAN HALL
The new record from Icelandic
chamber music ensemble
Nordic Affect showcases new
works combining historical
performance traditions with fresh new
sounds. In addition to familiar instruments
like the violin and viola, the group plays
the traverso (a wooden flute), tthe
harpsichord, and the cello-like gamba
with acute virtuosity.
The tracks on ‘Clockworking’ are a
diverse assembly, beginning and ending
with works by María Huld Markan
Sigfúsdóttir of the band Amiina. The
title track builds up a collection of clock-
like circling rhythms. It’s also the odd
track out on the album, as most of the
rest of the pieces veer away from post-
minimalism into the experimental realm.
The piece ends a bit abruptly, a sort of
half-tapering off.
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir’s “From Beacon
to Beacon” is one of the album’s most
effective compositions. There is a
balance between early music references
and contemporary sounds, giving the
ensemble a chance to shine. The piece
discreetly incorporates electronic
samples, harpsichord, and birdcalls along
with a few gentle gongs.
Anna Thorvaldsdóttir’s “Shades
of Silence” employs plucked notes,
microtonal slides of the strings, and small
percussive effects to create an evocative
landscape of sounds, reminiscent of a
deep, dark forest. The overall workings
of the piece are quite minimal, but the
atmospheric effect is more than the sum
of its parts.
“Sleeping Pendulum” concludes
the album and harkens back to Iceland’s
earliest musical traditions (duets of sorts
called tvísöngur) by reimagining these
melodies, veering off sometimes with
more dissonance, sometimes with more
sweetness and sentimentality. When it
concludes, we’re left with the sounds of
gentle bells tinkling.
Nordic Affect is already an
outstanding ensemble of female players
championing the works of female
composers, but this album goes further
than that. Lying somewhere between
accessible ambience, avant-garde
classical, early music, and experimental
music, ‘Clockworking’ exists in the grey
areas where all the interesting music
is happening. It may take time to warm
up to, but for those willing to give it
some careful listening, they will be well
rewarded.
- NATHAN HALL
Album
Reviews
Japanese Super Shift
'Double Slit'
japanesesupershiftmusic.bandcamp.com
Doomy DIY computer synths
for The Game Of Life
Una Sveinbjarnardóttir
‘Umleikis’
kammersveit.is
Lonely violin solos from
the Westfjords
Nordic Affect
‘Clockworking’
www.nordicaffect.com
A curious collection of new
works for adventurous ears