It amazes me how good the music that comes out of Iceland is. There aren’t many people there, some 300k, and as a result there aren’t an enormous amount of well known musicians from the area. The ones I do know of are pretty amazing though. I’ve been a pretty big fan of Bjork for a while. Sigur Ros comes from Iceland, obviously as they sing in Icelandic and Icelandic gibberish, and are pretty mind blowing. Now I’ve come across another group who has impressed me quite a bit: Amiina.

Amiina was originally a string quartet but the stuff they do now is all original. It reminds me a lot of CocoRosie without singing. I also hear a hint of traditional chinese music sneaking its way up there in how they use some percussive string instruments. Basically they’ve switched from 2 violins, a viola, and a cello, to a multi-instrumentalist spectacle complete with everything from synths to toy bells. They play in a minimalist style that goes a long way into painting a scene that you can sit back and relax in.

I don’t know what it is about Iceland but they’re doing something right. Not only are the aforementioned musicians highly effective at what they do, they’re also intensely original sounding. Maybe that comes from being stuck on an island many miles out in the ocean. Whatever it is, it’s worth a listen.

I don’t know anything about Lee Hazlewood but the addition of his poetry to this track works perfectly.