Artist : Benni Hemm Hemm
Title : Kajak
Genre : Indie
Year : 2006
Date : 02/2007
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 13
Label : Morr Music mm074
Source : CDDA
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 51:33 min
Size : 61,8 MB
Tracklist:
----------
01.skuavars 03:44
02.brekkan 05:32
03.snj÷rlj÷ssnj÷r 03:15
04.sorgartar 02:35
05.s÷lΣneyh÷la 02:48
06.regngalsinn 05:18
07.stoffer 05:11
08.abbastⁿfur 06:23
09.alorei 03:16
10.sex eda sj÷ 04:08
11.m÷nako 01:49
12.eg a bat 03:28
13.egisda 04:06
-------
51:33 min
Mhhh... Why nobody released this ?
"OinkOinkOink!" the little piggy said... :P
Harking from the glorious province of Iceland -
a nation-state which matches its natural beauty
and enviable musical heritage with a drinking
culture of Beowulf scope - Benni Hemm Hemm
(aka Benedikt H. Hermannsson) has crafted a
gorgeous follow up to 'Beginning End';
wherein the immediacy of that debut LP was
recaptured through a lightening blast of undiluted
recording time. Shoehorned into just four days,
'Kajak' was conceived and matured at Sundlaugin
(the studio of Sigur R≤s) - with eleven musicians
coming together to fuse Hermannsson's vision
into the kind of throbbing aural diktat that demands
you stripe your face with a smile. Emotional,
energetic and textured to perfection, 'Kajak' is
restlessly virile - cramming a vast spectrum of
instrumentation into pop tempered packages that
veer clean of any potential overcrowding.
Parochial in a way which doesn't invite accusations
of blinkered ambitions, 'Kajak' thankfully invokes the
horn-blasted spirit of 'Beginning End' - as the opening
'Skvavars' trickles into view through delicate acoustic
fragments only to blossom with chalk-mural intensity
as the full muscular potential of such a vast retainer
of musicians kicks in. Conjuring images that invariably
come via the medium of ravaging oceans and sunset
theatrics, Hermannsson's vision is at once wide-screen
and cripplingly intimate - a juxtaposition displayed to full
effect on the wonderful 'Brekken'.
Alternating between bombastic tracts of spiraling
instrumentation and fragile vocal expositions, 'Brekkan'
sets the tone for the rest of 'Kajak' - as moments of
surging exuberance are brought into vivid contrast
against the filigree emotions kept upfront. With the
likes of 'Sorgartßr' and its swelling composition, the
abstract love poem of 'Regngalsinn', and the enigmatic
'M≤nak≤' all capturing a cohesive yet wonderfully varied
narrative, Benni Hemm Hemm represents pop-music
without the dirty connotations. Closing on the gorgeous
'Egisa' (imagine a contented sigh at sunset...),
'Kajak' is a record which ignores conventions and comes
out shining with a rare lustre somewhere between Sigur
Ros and Sufjan Stevens.
Lovely.
Buy: http://www.morrmusic.com/