Listen to Tuesday: Rökkurró

First up, I'd like to offer an apology. I know I've been saying for a really long time that this is supposed to be a travel and music blog, but I've really really been neglecting on the music bit - I guess I got so caught up in the travel aspect that I completely forgot all about music!

Which is why to make it up to you, I'm introducing Listen to Tuesday, where every week I'll be giving you my newest picks of the best in film, postrock, acoustic, and of course world/folk music (just to tie in music and travel ha ha!).

This week in tying in with the whole Icelandic schmazz that's been going on lately, I'd like to present Rökkurró, an Icelandic band from Reykjavík with a beautiful sound "evocative of the cold and desolate landscapes of their distant homeland."



While their first album Það kólnar í kvöld was released in 2007 to great critical acclaim, it's Rökkurró's 2010 second album, Í Annan Heim, which I'm really into. Signed to 12 Tonár and produced by Alex Somers, famous for having worked with Jónsi of Sigur Rós fame, Í Annan Heim has a distinct post-rock touch to its sound without launching full-blown into the genre.

Lead singer Hildur Kristín Stefánsdóttir's voice is soothing and near a whisper, especially on melancholy tracks like Fjall and Svanur. All the lyrics are in Icelandic, which for me as an English speaker turn the voice into another instrument by taking away the meaning that words hold.

Like the landscape, the Icelandic language is haunting and seems perfectly suited to this sort of music - without harsh consonants, the voice blends into instruments rather than sitting above them.

Honest and unassuming, it's a sound that is uniquely Icelandic and that I have completely fallen in love with.

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Fun story: After I flew back to Edinburgh from Iceland, my friend Josh was in a random record score in Reykjavík looking for new music. He asked the storekeeper what was good, and the keeper pulled out Rökkurró. Josh told the keeper that he'd just listened to them, I'd just bought the CD a couple of days ago. The keeper laughed and said "That's cool, that's my band."

TL;DR - my friend met a member of Rökkurró who was working at a record store.
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Listen on Gogoyoko, Last.fm, or purchase on iTunes.