Up until now, Iceland's Hjaltalín have struck me as a band with a lot of ideas but no plan on how to make use them effectively.
It's not that they lacked ambition, only a clear focus and a direction. As a result, their previous material ended up in a sonic limbo land somewhere between summery 60s pop and pretentious 80s pomp.
With instrumentation that includes bassoon, clarinet and violin they were never going to sound like a conventional rock band, but the orchestral flourishes often appeared to compensate for a paucity of good tunes.
Enter 4 is billed as a sophomore album after 2009's Terminal as though to dismiss from their back catalogue 2007's Sleepdrunk Seasons. This is perhaps indicative of a desire to leave the past behind and start over with a clean slate.
The record follows a difficult period of soul searching, made more complicated by the mental breakdown of their driving force Högni Egilsson. Rather than shy away from these 'lost' years, the songs confront the experiences of loneliness and confusion to take the listener to some very dark places.
Take, for example, the fear and loathing expressed in Myself where we find sado-masochistic references and lines like "I'll go down for you to spit on me".
The sentiments on Forever Someone Else are equally discomforting. Here, soul-diva Sigríður Thorlacius sings ""I wanna feel touched, I wanna be felt, I wanna be seen, I just want you to hit me"; ambiguous words that leave you unsure if she is inviting a partner to embrace or abuse her?
In the opening track - Lucifer / He Felt Like A Woman - the singer takes the point of view of a fallen angel of light; a theme also referenced on Letter To (....) when Egilsson sings : "I'm heavy like the void a star collapsed and destroyed".
Vocals throughout switch between the pure melodic tones of Thorlacius and more strained voice of Egilsson. The contrast is used to dramatic effect on We when the lead vocals change over midway as though to present two distinct points of view - one conciliatory, the other tortured.
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I Feel You is decribed as a "come down anthem" while Crack In A Stone sheds only the faintest glimmer of light between a rock and a hard place.
A left over from the old Hjaltalín is to add over fussy orchestral codas when a simpler arrangements would make a bolder statement. This is especially true of the closing track Ethereal which was apparently recorded in a single take after a fraught day in the studio.
This intense soul-bearing statement (I guess you'll have to puzzle me") features Egilsson accompanied only by grand piano until the strings kick in at the end.
These minor reservations aside, this album is a huge leap forward for the band since none of the intense emotions seem exaggerated for effect.
The album title apparently refers to "a separate existential plane that Egilsson could see and touch and feel during his extended bouts of manic behaviour".
These are songs that come from the pain of a disconnected mental state that speak of a desperate craving for acceptance.
The question now remains whether Egilsson will sink or swim under the waves of love these songs will surely generate.
Hjaltalín's website
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