Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Hafdis Huld - Synchronised Swimmers (2010)

Switching gears, this is a totally different sort of album than the last posts. As her name suggests, she is Icelandic and belongs to the strong indie pop scene that has blown up there. For sometime I couldn't place what the appeal was of this sort of thing, but I have recently thought that perhaps it is that Icelandic pop is the closest thing to the 60s French pop I love so much that is being produced today. Of course, this music is much more a product of musicianship on the part of singer/songwriters like Hafdis Huld than the many French chanteuses who often were relying on Serge Gainsbourg or whomever to write songs. A good comparison for what Ms. Huld's music is like would be Hello Saferide. This album is exceedingly pleasant and damnably cheerful. This contrasts with the first thing I though about when seeing the name Hafdis, as I knew the name from an Icelandic short story that is rather tragic. If you like other Icelandic or Scandinavian pop like Benni Hemm Hemm and Seabear, you'll be fond of this.

To be had here:
Hafdis Huld - Synchronised Swimmers [192 kbps]

1 comment:

  1. I agree with everything you said and it's a really good call to compare her with some of the 60s french singers. I got the album in Iceland and love it - especially tracks such as Daisy and Vampires.
    did you know that Hafdis is collecting pictures of people that buy the limited edition of her album? There's stuff about it on her website, which is worth a look just coz its so cute: http://www.hafdishuld.com

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