The sticker on the shrink-wrap described it as, "GLOOMY AND VIOLENT ACOUSTIC
MUSIK FROM ICELAND," and the packaging reminded me of my most recent
in a string of amazing musical Icelandic discoveries, Múm, so, needless
to say, I was intrigued, and it was only $13.99, so I decided to try it…
And, fortunately, Iceland has not let me spend my hard earned $$$ in vain. Sofandi's new CD, Ugly Demos, is not particularly violent, but it is gloomy and acoustic and Icelandic--three out of four aren't bad (and who really needs more violence anyway)…
Try as I might, I cannot find a lot of information on this band, and that which I do find is either extremely vague or in Icelandic (which I don't speak yet). There seem to be three regular members, plus Birna who sings on several tracks, but none of this is really imperative, as long as you can find a copy of this CD…
The closest thing that I can compare Sofandi to is Spain's dark acoustic rock/jazz/country, but even that does not do Ugly Demos justice. These guys are easily as depressed as the band Spain, maybe even more so, but seem to have dealt with it by listening to the Cure and finding some real catharsis in their music (the opening track, in fact, is quite reminiscent of an acoustic version of the Cure's "Plainsong"). Sofandi uses their arrangements to tell their stories and convey the feelings of their songs to the listener rather than their oftentimes-straightforward and basic lyrics…
On "Another You," for example, they sing of the demise of a relationship over an improvised jazz-based guitar solo, toned-down bass, and brushed drums, but the lyrics say very little compared to the music, as this semmingly-improvised dark jam session evolves at the three-minute mark. Suddenly, the tempo more than doubles, middle-eastern tunings are introduced, and the song builds to an acoustic dissonant explosion. Sofandi does not just tell you about the end of this relationship-they force you to suffer along with the couple in the song…
Other highlights include the drunken circular rhythms of "Yellow Curtains," the bratty indifference of "Something Always Comes Up," and the epic eleven-minute "Trillukarlar," which is also reminiscent of Disintegration-era Cure, adding layer upon layer until it gently fades into sonic oblivion…
Ugly Demos concludes with the ingenious "Don't Get Over Excited" (once you listen to it, you'll see what I mean), and I must say that I wish that all of the CDs that I buy without hearing them first sounded this good…
As long as Iceland continues to put out quality music such as this, we'll forgive them for that Quarashi-thing…
