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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Icelandic chill, 13 Jul 2007
Is there such a thing as an Icelandicophile? I think I am becoming one.
Like most who may have had their curiosity peaked by this album, I was drawn to it because of the link to the wonderful Sigur Ros. For the record, Amiina have featured heavily on those records - principally as an ad-hoc chamber quartet.
Well 'Kurr' treads the same kind of spacial soundscapes, but in a much more delicate way. The rock elements are absent and replaced with a glacial beauty of drifting strings, spectral glockenspiel and subtle electronica. It's like going for a stroll in a snow-capped forest or walking on a lonely beach on a winter morn. Quite beautiful.
Essentially, this is not about songs but moods, which means that it is aimed at quite a specialist audience. Nevertheless, fans of Eno, Boards of Canada, Sigur Ros etc, will have the patience to let this record's fragile qualities shine through.
Oh, and with a sleeve like that, how on earth can you resist. I have grown to love the whole package.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delicate Beauty, 24 Jan 2008
I bought this album solely on the clips on amazon and I have to say that those clips give a very good indication to the album so if you like the clips, grab the album.
Amiina sounds like a music box left on for decades in a lonely barn. It has more of a carving landscape sound than hooks and tunes. Each song floats in plinking away and whirling around chords. Never will it jump out into a frenzy and never will it see you headbanging or foottapping. Instead you will float on its airy vibes and be entranced by its simple, delicate and yet complex arrangements of music boxes, vibraphones, acoustic guitars and ethereal swirls of the occasional voice.
It took me a few minutes on the first listen to realise I'd stopped what I was doing and was just simply hypnotised.
While its not to everyone's taste (again see the clips) I cannot really find fault in this inventive and original album of alternative chamber music.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Winter music, 13 Jan 2008
To be honest, Amiina didn't really grab me the first time I listened. It flowed in one ear, out the other, and left me thinking, "What was I listening to again?"
But I started liking them after a few more listens. Their ethereal little ambient pop tunes sound like Sigur Ros with chimes and violins (minus the vocals), and their debut album "Kurr" is full of that kind of stuff. A few songs are too ambient for their own good, but the majority hit the target.
It opens on a hesitant note with "Sogg," a delicate little wintry melody that sounds like it was tapped out on a toy piano during a snowstorm. It's basically a pretty little cycling melody doesn't really go anywhere, but it serves as a pretty good introduction.
That is left to the gentle "Rugla," a folky melody that is slowly overtaken by a web of violins and assorted strings, and some muted little whoops in the background. "Glámur" is a pretty, stately little tune on metallophone, smothered in strings, which wouldn't sound out of place in a music box.
That sets the theme for the rest of the album -- haunting, chilly pop tunes, folky melodies doused in violins, mournful little string ballads, ghostly interludes of wailing synth. And toward the end, the songs get really full-bodied -- a melancholy horn tune, and the swirling, interwoven "Lóri."
It does have a few dud songs, though. The finale "Boga is a good song, but almost ten minutes in length. "Lúpína" sounds like bamboo wind chimes -- not bad, but rather superfluous -- and "Sexfaldur" simply doesn't come to life until the very end.
It somehow doesn't come as a surprise that Amiina sounds like Sigur Ros trapped in a music box -- apparently they have collaborated together, and had a part in the "Screaming Masterpiece" documentary along with Mum, Bjork and other bands. So their pretty, ethereal sound isn't a surprise, although it takes some time to get into it and enjoy its layers.
Their ethereal sound mainly comes from the chiming metallophone, glockenspiel, the airy windy synth, and the tinkly electric piano. But they also weave in some stately classical string arrangements -- violin, viola and cello -- as well as some gentle harmonium. And in some of the catchier and/or folkier songs, they ground the melodies with acoustic guitar.
It's a very smooth, ethereal, wintry kind of music, and Amiina don't really break it up with vocals. No vocals, no lyrics. There are a few songs where they murmur non-words like "la la," but these seem more like another instrument than actual singing. I will say this -- they have very pretty, fairyline voices, which doesn't hurt the music's impact.
"Kurr" is a solid debut for a talented Icelandic quartet. They need to strengthen a few weak spots, but overall it's very pretty.
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