The album begins with a sweeping orchestral prelude, before somehow going sort of Country and Western and then ending up with some strange Latin rhythm beneath the orchestral and country elements, with poppy vocals here there and everywhere. All in the space of the first song. What the hell is this? A sickly-sweet pop duet mutates into some weird disco funk workout with awkward falsetto vocals... ('Traffic Music') then male and female vocals duel it out on what sounds like a show tune as performed by The Scissor Sisters featuring Frank Sinatra ('The Boy Next Door'). Slow, smoky piano ballads jostle with hyperactive jazz-infused pop and disco party music with string arrangements that zip in and out of the arrangement. The fact that Hjaltalin (who have already gone gold with this album ion their native Iceland) has no fewer than seven members, all of whom seem to have to have to do something on every track, regardless, probably doesn't help, resulting in a sound that's not only beyond categorisation (Huw Stephens has suggested Classoul, referencing their combination of classical and soul elements), but insanely cluttered.
|
The titles on the cover bear no resemblance to those the CD brings up on my PC's Media Player, and it appears that I've received their debut, 'Sleepdrunk Seasons' in a sleeve for 'Terminal,' their latest release. It's all too confusing, and frankly, it's all just too, too much. I can handle eclecticism, but this... it's just unbearably busy. Track nine, which is either called '7 Years' or 'The Trees Don't Like the Smoke' depending on which album this is, is another oddity that's built upon a framework of schmaltzy 70s disco, while 'Water Poured in Wine' (or is it 'I Lie'?) is a real train-wreck of genres with some glammy funk bass and soulful backing vocals surrounding Sigridur Thorlacius crooning about wanting to 'listen to some sexy records.' That might not be a bad idea: he might be able to learn something from them.
http://www.myspace.com/hjaltalinband
|
