ROKKURRO - Það Kólnar Í Kvöld…

Among the merits of the many Icelandic artists who have emerged on the music scene over the past decade – Sigur Rós foremost among them – is certainly that of having made the use of their homeland's language more common and widespread in music, a tongue that is sharp and guttural yet not without soft, intriguing accents.

It may be a coincidence, but in the meantime the number of bands who adopt their national idiom in place of English has multiplied, further shrouding in mystery a music that is rich in traditional elements and references to the history and culture of a unique and fascinating country.

The latest band, chronologically speaking, to export the Icelandic language along with their own music may well be these Rökkurró, five young musicians from Reykjavík who in 2006 gave life to an artistic project centred on a strange blend of Nordic folk echoes, a moderately orchestral approach and an underlying modern sensibility, at times not far removed from certain post-rock nuances.

The ten tracks of "Það Kólnar Í Kvöld…" are underpinned by a contaminated strain of folk — just under three quarters of an hour of music, originally released last year by the Icelandic label 12 Tónar, though it's only in recent weeks that it's reached an international audience.

"Það Kólnar Í Kvöld…" is an album that's simple and intricate at once, the product of varied inspirations that nonetheless all point, to some degree, northward — both in terms of historical-cultural coherence and of current musical reference points.

The overall folk-pop shading, the grace of the female vocals and the overall approach in fact recall two contemporary Swedish bands: on one hand Amandine, and on the other the all-female orchestral post-rock quartet Audrey. In between, there are echoes of Icelandic tradition, expressed here either in enchanted atmospheres built around a preponderance of strings ("Hún", "Heiðskýr Heimsendir"), or in bucolic little songs, incredibly sunny and playful yet still tinged with a hint of nostalgia.

The string-and-harmonium-driven orchestral feel of the opening tracks, after giving rise to a couple of genuine pop songs — lively and fragmented by rhythms layered over their underlying romanticism ("Ringulreið", "Ferðalangurinn") — gradually gives way to a more "rock" approach, where tradition merges with bursts of electric guitar that are at times quite pronounced, over which singer Kristín Stefánsdóttir's soprano voice indulges in a touch too much virtuosity, while the oblique romanticism of the compositions edges into territory very close to the orchestral post-rock of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, echoed in the ending of "Hetjan Á Fjallinu" and above all in the twisted sonic coils traced by the glockenspiel on "Allt Gullið".

Forever poised between light folk-pop melodic simplicity and unpredictable electric twists, "Það Kólnar Í Kvöld…" is a fresh, sunny record that reveals a new Icelandic band capable of making a name for itself beyond its home borders; its identity doesn't yet seem fully defined, but it's certainly commendable both in its measured reworking of electric orchestration and, above all, in its simplest passages, where the dreamy softness of a melodic folk sound — thoroughly enjoyable and timeless — points to the potential of Rökkurró, marking them out as yet another Icelandic band capable, in time, of making a name for itself on the international stage.

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13/07/2008