MADE IN ICELAND

http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/tour/2013/20130830-jodrell-bank/

jodrell bank space intro

Samaris single Viltu Vitrast released on 7th October 2013.


‘Elegant and unusual, this is a gem’ NME 8/10 
‘Imagine The xx and Little Dragon eloping to that magical forest in Lord of The Rings and you might be getting close to this record’s wonderfully paranormal aesthetic’ The Line of Best Fit 8/10 
‘Samaris specialise in gorgeous, haunting nocturnes’ Drowned In Sound
‘Samaris is superb. It’s fantastic. It’s amazing.’ The 405
‘This is an effortlessly atmospheric album that has all the arty sophistication of any great Icelandic act’ The Fly 4/5
‘An excellent forward thinking record from three talented musicians, not yet out of their teens’ Loud&Quiet  8/10
‘Mesmerisingly breathy groove from the young Icelandic combo, which should lure you to the delicious confections of their self-titled album’ Metro 

Icelandic teenage wunderkind Samaris’ first UK release comes in the shape of an eponymously-titled album on 29th July. Samaris compiles their two Icelandic-released EPs, Hljóma Þú (2011) and Stofnar falla (recorded at Sigur Rós’ Sundlaugin studio with Gunnar Tynes of múm, 2012.

Combining disparate elements of electronics (Þórður Kári Steinþórsson), clarinet (Áslaug Rún Magnúsdóttir) and Jófríður Ákadóttir’s haunting voice, Samaris mix glacial electronica and bold, percussive beats with haunting chant-like vocals - the lyrics culled from nineteenth century Icelandic poems. Viltu Vitrast for example retells an Icelandic folk tale about villages who ask for help from a supernal being, but worry it will choose not to manifest its power on Earth. The effect is simultaneously ancient and modern – an ethereal sound filled with dark spaces and alien atmosphere. 

Formed in 2011 in Reykjavik, within months Samaris had won both the Icelandic Músíktilraunir (past winners include the likes of Of Monsters and Men) and Kraumur Award. The band’s show at Iceland Airwaves in 2012, attracted the attention of Line Of Best Fit, Drowned In Sound and NPR amongst many others. Singer Jófríður also performs with her sister Ásthildur in the more folk-inclined Pascal Pinion.
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Order new album ‘Silkidrangar’ now!
iTunes: smarturl.it/Samaris-Silkidrangar
CD/Vinyl: bit.ly/skdr-oli

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Samaris - Viltu Vitrast

Sin-Fang-Always-Everything

• Third and most accessible album by icelandic experimental pop artist Sin Fang
• Recorded & produced by Alex Somers (producer of Sigur Rós & Jónsi)
Although there is a certain reassuring quality to evergreens – you can rely on them to never drop their foliage – it’s the flowering plants, the ones that bud, blossom, and bloom, which really light up and even define a season. This is exactly what happens on Flowers, Sin Fang’s third solo album: Seabear’s founder and mastermind unlashes a melodic spring storm and explores even more corners of the lush and baroque gardens he spent the last five years in.
Following his Half Dreams EP, Flowers is a solo album that nevertheless opens with a lot of collective chanting, a sense of deep rootedness, togetherness, unity, shared experience: “We were young boys, smoking in the woods, I showed you how”, are the first words Sindri Már Sigfússon aka Sin Fang scatters across the less-beaten tracks, only to leapfrog across the lawn and switch on the stage lights for his own take of stadium pop. Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with your ears: A song like “What’s Wrong With Your Eyes” would indeed sound infinitely awesome in a stadium setting – it’s so massive, so outspokenly pop, when the beat meets layered vocals and the piano comes in just at the right moments. “I was thinking a lot about pre-teenage and teenage feelings,” he explains. “The exaggerated feelings and dramatic thoughts that most teenagers go through: Love and rejection, the constant ups and downs... I thought Flowers was a good name for that theme as they are used both for sad and happy occasions.”
A few albums and EPs and make-shift DIY beards later (he went from paper to knitted goods and now likes them freshly watered and soon withering), Mr. Sigfússon has obviously learned how to cultivate the heaviest crops of the pops: indie-rooted but vast, quirky at times but crystal-clearly aiming at the stars in other places, there’s more tracks with huge sing-along gestures, more of that well-rounded surround experience now stripped of any insecurities. This is a bold statement that’s a million miles away from cliché Icelandic indie stuff, but instead shows that you can indeed be a sucker for outlandish prison tattoos and at the same time go for rather timeless orchestrations that unfold like springs, followed by summers and autumnal winds.
There’s clearly a ghost at work here, still carrying him away, as he gathers more and more rosebuds and moves from epically marching (“Look At The Light”) to overgrown power pop (“Not Enough”) and back via lots of oh-uh-oh-uh-oohs (going up and down like those distant hills you can’t stop staring at) to fast-paced bliss (“Sunbeam”). “Weird Heart” takes a look at the things one doesn’t care about as one gets older (“so many things don’t mean a thing to me”), while “Feel See” is a call for like-minded individuals out there, as it moves from section to section, pushing onwards, now hesitant and soft-spoken almost, soon hopeful about the answer to the question it poses: “Is there someone that feels like me, that there’s nothing to feel or see?” There’s lots. To feel. To see. To discover and dive into. At least in this garden there is.

Sin-Fang-Always-Everything

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