Demob Happy

Scandinavian Dark Star

6/10

Much has been made of the atmospherics and wintery mood on this album but for me this was a dissapointment. The marriage of classical music and electronica is always an uneasy one - countless clinical, po-faced concept records have been made in this mould. What is missing from many of the reviews about this record is what the chief vocals sound like. To me, they tend towards the mopey self-indulgence of mediocre indie bands. Lots of unintelligable murmering over glitchy, stop-start production - gloomy strings; frenetic, speeded-up loops (as per Four Tet’s ‘Spirit Fingers’) which are downtempo despite their speed; chimes; glockenspiels; choirs etc. The musical pallette is similar to Colleen but sped up consderably, but it is the lead vocals that lack in substance. I have nothing against the voice being used just as a musical instrument - that is, wordlessly - but you need a special sounding voice to do this (as with their associates Sigur Ros). There are some beautiful moments on this album, but I found the mood unbending and, with many tracks hitting the six-minute mark, tiring. That said, I think this an album you have to be in a very specific mood for, and should probably listen through headphones to fully appreciate.