Artist: Legend and Sólstafir
Title: Fjara / Runaway Train (Split Single)
Genre: Alt Rock
Release Date: 24th January 2014
Label: Artoffact Records
Single Review
Iceland. Rarely icy. Volcanic and unstable. Very dark, or very light. It’s that kind of place, where opposites and extremes sit comfortably together and just get on with it. So it’s fitting that two of that country’s top acts should decide to release a split single. And then confuse things by each re-recording a new version of the other band’s best known song. Sounds like a strange vanity project, dreamt up after too much Brennivin in a Reykjavik bar one fiercely stormy night? Well it might be, but it really doesn’t matter.
The LEGEND cover of ‘Fjara’ is a stunning, brooding seven minutes of beautifully sung, impossible to categorize spacy pop-rock, like sliding down a fjord on a reindeer with the Northern Lights exploding above you and a feeling that you could burst from the joy of it all. It’s that good. ‘Runaway Train’ is tackled by SÓLSTAFIR exactly as it should be, head-on and fearless, building gradually but with purpose. A deceptively simple song that sounds complex, at seven minutes long, it too delivers a sense of euphoria that anything more compact would have failed to achieve.
Odd, yes, but hugely rewarding, and a glimpse into how they do things in the land of fire and ice. More of this would be a very good thing.
Tracklist
01. Fjara
02. Runaway Train
Line-up
Legend
Krummi Björgvinsson & Halldór A Björnsson
Live drummer: Frosti Jón Runólfsson
Solstafir
Aðalbjörn Tryggvason - guitar, vocals
Guðmundur Óli Pálmason - drums
Svavar Austmann - bass
Sæþór Maríus Sæþórsson - guitar
Website
https://www.facebook.com/Legendband / https://www.facebook.com/solstafirice
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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