Gonks. You remember them don’t you? Small, furry soft toys your sister used to collect. Like me, you probably never really got them, but at one time they were a ‘must have’ playground accessory. But unlike Rubiks Cubes, they couldn’t be used as a tool to dazzle your mates with how brainy you were and unlike conkers, they proved inadequate when trying to deal someone a really cruel blow on a wet-play in January. In fact it was impossible to say with any certainty if these unaccountably ghoulish freaks with their simple expressions and big hair served any credible purpose at all, outside of making kids nervous. And it’s a similar proposition with much of the music coming out of Iceland. As otherworldly as a six-mile traffic diversion in Mid Wales, as tricksy as a hobbit and as likely to confound as Stephen Hawking’s diaries, artists like Bjork, Mum and Sigur Ros might offer tunes to rival aurora borealis in terms of beauty, but rarely do we understand them. And it’s a stereotype that Ólöf Arnalds seems unlikely to disrupt, not least because all these artists either appear on or are in some way connected to the album in one way or another – Bjork appearing on the creepily exquisite torch song, ‘Surrender’ and Sigur Ros keys-chap, Kjartan Sveinsson have produced the album. Sparse, minimal and as tremulous as a voice creeping down the quietest of library aisles, tunes like ‘Jonathon’ and ‘Svif Birki’ bring to mind the weeping, ethereal beauty of more accessible folk triumphs like James Yorkston, whilst the rousing vocal revelry of ‘Vinur Minn’ packs more energy and more sudden movements than Zorba the Greek.
Arnalds may seem two strings short of a full charango on occasions (‘Crazy Car’ is frankly baffling) but its no less charming because of it. And whilst the lute might not be the traditional weapon of choice it works in the rather alien, and tirelessly kooky context of ‘Innundir skinni’.
Ólöf Arnalds has created a strong stateside buzz following NYC shows with Bjork and Dirty Projectors, Blonde Redhead and John Vanderslice.
You’ll either get it or you w’aint – but either way it will bring a smile to your lips trying. Wonderful stuff.
Innundir skinni’ released 10/09/10