It's easy, simple, and at this point downright redundant to point out how an Icelandic act like
Sigur Ros
mimics the icy mountains of its frozen home. But if you've ever hitchhiked across an Alps plateau in the middle of the night, with the slightest shade of dark and darker separating the hills and the sky, then you know that
Tripper
, by the Danish ten-piece ensemble
Efterklang
, would have been the perfect
soundtrack
. In this place, the minimal hush of objects is so large that their very existence vibrates.
take that hush and decorate it with male and female vocals, whispered so as to not awake the sleeping glaciers. Barely perceivable
electronic
cells sit near absolute zero, as if left frozen on the ice banks of Mars. You can even hear the melodic sound of you breath's water molecules crystallizing to ice inside your nose. String arrangements by Iceland's
Amina Ensemble
reinforce the link with similar Arctic acts, but they also give the sole indication of some warmth and light out there after six months in the dark. It's not all nature's wonders and northern lights. People live in those mountains, too. ~ Joshua Glazer