Still Corners - Strange Pleasures

Mezcallia

Taken from 'Measures Of Joy', the debut album from South London based band Virginia Wing, due out on Fire Records in November 2014. The startlingly realized collection draws influence from the radiophonic sounds of Broadcast, the kosmische wonder of Cluster and the avant-garde work of This Heat and Flaming Tunes whilst never directly aping any of the above. 

Virginia Wing - World Contact

There are strange forces at work, lurking underneath the shiny, impeccable surface of this place: Looming behind all those perfect little fence posts and neighborly smiles, there's a sense of isolation, of emptiness, a hint of claustrophobia, that fear of being in the wrong place, too far removed from where things are really happening. It's true: darkness has fallen upon suburbia. Welcome to the unadorned world of Innhverfi.

Using a play on the Icelandic words for "suburbs" and "introvert" for its title, Innhverfi is the debut solo album from Sigur Rós' and Jónsi's touring keyboard player/percussionist Óbó – in his passport it says Ólafur Björn Ólafsson –, and although comprised of no more than 7 compositions, it does run the gamut of suburban bliss turned upside down: After the LP's minimalistic opener "Úthverfi", a track that melancholically opens up after a long, immensely dark and brooding intro, that ultimately offers some respite in the form of playful Glockenspiel over layers of slow-moving sonic lava, the equally cinematic "Svartur galdur" leaves much room for Óbó's trademark baritone: Like a bespectacled puppeteer with fluffy hair, he seems to shuffle and rearrange home-recorded bits and lullaby-like DIY pieces in front of our very eyes, which can't help but follow, as we move deeper into the somewhat forlorn suburban landscape that has inspired this record. Imagine dark, wet streets, overcast little alleys, and suddenly a cat or a candle on a windowsill, breathing slowly.

Elsewhere, "Gjallarhornin" – all spoken words, piano, strings, vibraphone, rearranged like a whirlwind in slow-motion – makes way for a hopeful oomph deferred and silent-movie era melodies, while "Stilla", an instrumental, commences like early Efterklang, but there's no gaudiness on the horizon: When the subtle electronics and percussions erupt in the end, it all feels just right – if only for a brief moment. Finally, the subdued birdsong and jazz-inspired piano of "Fyrirbo∂i" underline that Ólafsson has worked on motion picture soundtracks in the past – e.g. The Good Heart, Steypa –, and before it all ends, he even throws in a foot-stompin' alt-pop song of sorts ("Rétt e∂a rangt?"). The last stop of this journey into the haunting underbelly of the suburban mind is "Gullregn": A creaking door that opens to unveil his own garden of forking paths, a place where one can still decide, shake things up, jump the fence and run, leave before it's too late. It's pure possibility, presented in a golden light.

Although Innhverfi is his debut effort as a solo artist, Óbó's musical handwriting has been all over the Icelandic map in recent years: A multi-instrumentalist and a wizard on percussions, he studied piano and later composition in various European cities and has performed and recorded with artists such as Sigur Rós, Jónsi, Emiliana Torrini, Stórsveit Nix Noltes, slowblow, Benni Hemm Hemm, múm, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Úlfur Hansson and Valgeir Sigur∂sson, to name a few.

Though few will be able to understand the lyrics in his native Icelandic, one thing is certain: Innhverfi is the very antidote to the affliction and troubles it sketches out. Turns out we've been in the right place all along.

Buy On Itunes

Óbó: Rett Eda Rangt?

"We are all prisoners of the dusk, dreaming of a dawn that never comes. For in the abyss of night, even stars are but dying embers—fleeting and frail. And when the wind howls its lonely hymn, remember: darkness is the mirror where lost souls recognize themselves. Here, in the silence of eternal shadows, the heart becomes a desert… and the light, a distant rumor."

Sally

Single  released in Sweden by Woah Dadd! 

http://www.woahdad.com/

Closer Away

Be Forest - Thrill

Strange Pleasures

Future Age

Going Back to Strange

Beatcity

Midnight Drive

We Killed the Moonlight

Premiered on Brooklyn Vegan

Music video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DztJUCCKo2w
+ unofficial video for Does It Show vimeo.com/73195315 - Unit 1

Dandelion Wine is the first single off of the band in Heaven's full length album: Caught in a Summer Swell. You can pre-order the album: http://decadesrecord.com/product/caught-in-a-summer-swell/

Lyrics:
The sights and sounds that fell all around your feet
(red white and blue, know everything true)
All turn to gold, line the sidewalks of your street
(people come and go, where to no one knows)
The summer sun will set, won’t stay too long
(don’t hide your eyes, greet the world outside)
So waste your breath and fill your lungs with songs
(songs you used to know, the ones your daddy showed you)

Kiss your wrist and ask no one the time
Stay up late getting drunk off that Dandelion Wine

Now your shoes all worn, your shirt all tucked in safe
(tucked down inside, still got nothing right)
Your hands all cracked, can’t help but show their age
(worn to the bone, spent polishing stones)
You showed up small but you grew too tall to walk
(bent and afraid, everything has changed)
Now you curse the kids that hang around your block	
(all they do is talk, the ones that time forgot)	

Check your wrist and ask someone the time
Can’t remember getting drunk off that Dandelion Wine

Dandelion Wine

We're not the best, but we're pretty good.

Future Age

Sub Pop

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