Kurr

Amiina

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 19, 2007)
• Original Release Date: June 19, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ever Records
• ASIN: B000PHX11S
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,278 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Amiina not only sound like Arvo Pärt in a music box, they actually play a music box. It's among the thrift-store instruments the Icelandic quartet employs, which include wine glasses, bowed saws, antique synthesizers, and--yes, even the violins, viola, and cello that they originally started with. We've been hearing Amiina for a few years now, adding strings and additional quirkiness to the last few albums by fellow Icelanders Sigur Rós. While Sigur Rós work in epic electric dimensions, Amiina work in the delicate spaces of fragile sounds and folk refrains. On Kurr, their first full-length album, they manage to be quaint and exotic, like a modern vision set in a dusty portrait from the past. Amiina's mixture of classicism and humor owes a debt to the Penguin Café Orchestra. But while the late Simon Jeffe's outfit had the air of erudite wit and debonair grace, Amiina are cuter, musically and visually. Like kids in the attic, they exude a more innocent, yet exploratory charm. Whether plucking pastoral electric guitar lines and singing a schoolyard chant on "Rugla," bowing saws and tapping glockenspiels on "Seoul," or actually playing their classical strings, Amiina enchant like a peek inside an elven gathering under the roots of Yggdrasil. --John Diliberto

Product Description

Most music lovers first heard of Amiina due to their association with another Icelandic band called Sigur Ros. The girls started working with Sigur Ros in the mid 90's, resulting in their first shows with the band in 1999. The rest, of course, is history, as Amiina became the string players for all of Sigur Ros' subsequent tours and records.

Like the sound of cooing, aspects of Amiina's music flicker quietly and float softly, content and beautiful. Kurr is full of dazzling moments of that caliber, a wholly original work that is delicate, intricate and dream-like. Their music is genuinely so special, ineffably charming and infused with a sense of cosmic magic. It's certainly wielded that power on us.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars enigmatic, July 15, 2007

By	Felix Hayman "FSH" (Canberra Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amiina (formerly amína) is a quartet from Iceland comprised of:
María Huld Markan - violin
Hildur Ársælsdóttir - violin
Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir - viola
Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir - cello
They are best known for their work as Sigur Rós' string quartet on the album known as ( ), as well as Takk... and re-arranged the string work on Ágætis Byrjun so that Sigur Rós could tour it.
Kurr is an eclectic work of great beauty where the simplest sounds become a real basis for making music. The melodies are incredibly simple, both elcetronic ad percussive but they make up a distinct sound somewhat like the music of Rae Howell's Australian group Sunwrae.The overall effect is hypnotic as well as being part of a new minimalism coming out of Northern Europe and Iceland.This is their second release but the first in this minimalist style. Well recommended

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars if i could give it 6 stars, i would, September 4, 2007

By	Feminist Review blog "various writers" (worldwide) - See all my reviews

Take everything you love about Tom Waits' junykard orchestra and combine it with the elegance and beauty of Icelandic folk music. This is Amiina, the female quartet who will make you wonder why more musicians don't learn to play the saw. Their debut album, Kurr, (the Icelandic word for a bird's coo), is a 12-song lullaby on acid. It employs twenty instruments, each woman taking a turn at playing each instrument to achieve a multitude of unique sounds. Sparely used vocals add to the ethereal quality, and by the end you'll want both a mug of warm milk and an unfiltered cigarette.

Unlike most industrial music, their sound is rooted in the organic element of folk instrumentals, which lends a tender quality. The four bandmembers first gained recognition as the string backup for fellow Icelandic band, Sigur Rós. But these talented ladies, who first met at the Reykjavik College of Music as classically trained students, shine brightest when they have the spotlight to themselves. Their delicate attention to the subtleties of each instrument, and their perfect pitch and timing, betray their classical background. Kurr quickly rises above such limitations, to explore an atmospheric sound that conjures images of damp Icelandic winters, volcanic mountain ranges and rocky seaside cliffs.

Iceland is a magical land, at least that's what Bjork told me. Now, thanks to Amiina, I know it's true.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You have to give this a listen!, September 2, 2007

By	EMO "IckyThump" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

I first saw Amiina when they opened for Sigur Ros a while back. I was completely mesmerized by them as they played their "instruments" (like the saw on "Seoul"!), creating the unique, yet beautiful, sounds. I listen to this album a lot at work when I need to focus on something, yet want to listen to music. I'm a programmer, so this works out great for background listening.