Trot of the Minimalist Valkyries (Kurr - Amiina)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Kurr - Amiina
Date:	13/01/08 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting and highly lucid classical performance with a strong atmosphere.

Disadvantages: Lacking.

Well, this is a bit of a strange album to rate. Amiina, as can be seen from the cover of this debut album, is a quintet of women who play classical music in a very minimalist style, something that often results in compositions where nothing much happens at all. María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Hildur Ársælsdóttir, Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir and Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir hail from Iceland (what gave it away?) and frequently collaborate with the more well-known rock band Sigur Rós to add extra gravitas to their recordings, but taken on their own merits I found the experience very lacking.

Part of the problem is that the compositions are often so short, and lacking in detail, that it's impossible to really get to like them, though to their credit these women have an interesting experimental edge that never allows things to become stale or repetitive. A wide array of instruments are used across these songs, ranging from the core piano and string base (viols and harps) to additional glockenspiel, limited electronic effects and ambient vocals, either in a capella babble or more typical choir. These are all undemanding and relaxing pieces, but also lacking anything to really enthral the listener in this form, and even the longer and slightly more impressive songs like the first single 'Seoul' feel less like an epic composition with a beginning, middle and end, and more like an extended single movement. At the other end of the scale, songs like 'Saga' are pointlessly short at less than a minute in length, without even acting as an introduction to enhance their neighbours.

'Kurr' will doubtless appeal to fans of minimalist classical music, and the band's relative success in finding a record label and releasing an album, as well as their collaborations with other artists, indicate that these are likely some of the top players in their game. It left me disappointed all the same, the most favourable impression I gained from it being the sense that, at some points, I was living underwater and everything was pleasant and gay. Perhaps that's worth buying an album for, I couldn't really say.

1. Sogg
2. Rugla
3. Glámur
4. Seoul
5. Lúpína
6. Hilli
7. Sexfaldur
8. Kolapot
9. Saga
10. Lóri
11. Bláfeldur
12. Boga

Summary: Amiina's first album (2007).