Customer Reviews

Kurr

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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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

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.

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.

WOW! We first heard them a few years ago open for Sigur Ros and they almost stole the show! We were so excited that they then played with the main act. This first CD is incredible...so delicate and magical yet very avant garde as well. This is a truly wonderful CD and a great addition to your collection, especially if you like different, experimental, magical and gentle music. ENJOY!!!

I grabbed this album on a whim and have to say I am really pleased with the leap of faith. Upon my first listen, I was afraid that band was just the middle ground between Mum and Sigor Ros, however, with each progressive listen this quartet sunk deeper into my brain.

The album has a really nice natural sound to it. It seems to me that all parts were hand played on an diverse range of analog instruments. It doesn't sound to my ears that they have any samples going on and I have say that this is one of the albums greatest strengths. It really feels like four people conversing musically with each other and responding in a very raw compelling way. It's all very beautiful and delicate.

If you like Mum, Sigor Ros, Bjork, Cocteau Twins or CocoRosie and the like- I imagine you will have a good time with album. I also recommend this for folks who like sound scaping things along the lines of Robert Fripp or fans of Miles Davis- In A Silent Way.

I happened upon Amiina's Kurr while looking for music to listen to after a recent surgery and am so happy I did. The music is playful, light, and lyrical while creating a tone of ethereal peacefulness. As an artist, I will surely use this music in my studio to support my creative practice as well.

Leaving work one day I put this on. It had the instant effect of soothing the day's stress away. So calming and dreamlike. You'll look up and stare at the clouds and just feel like you're floating up there among them. Excellent for falling asleep to or anything that requires a tranquil setting. What a beautiful delight.

There's an epicyclic music-box quality to this consistently fragile and delicate work: a sense of precision at once profound and simultaneously subsumed by its resultant beauty and understatement. Airy, consonant, reflective even during some curiously well-fitted theremin passages, (recall the saw found on Deathprod's "Morals and Dogma") these 12 pieces are so even-keeled that they operate equally well as vertical music -- come and go as you please -- and as active listening: the cover image providing an excellent metaphor in representation of the music within (and no relation to Climax Blues Band "Tightly Knit"). For listeners of Sigur Ros, perhaps too demure. For listeners of Rachel's and Clogs the music of Kurr will be familiar in places, but resolutely unengaged with contrasts of the violent sort, deeply engaged in contrasts of the subtle sort. For this listener, a sense of gratitude that the quieter voices are finding a channel.

This graceful piece has all the bells, strings, xylophone and chime influences which will catch you ears in a kind way. Its intense but soft musicality with seducing tones can induce you to remember Amelie's soundtrack: it has that instant classicality to it with high pitched almost naive and playful piano keys and steady violins. It is also haunting but not in a dark way, more in that grounded but light folk touch. It's at that edge where it avoids marshmallowy syrup, but it remains purely "musical" -not pop, nor rock, no vocals.
Amiina manage to guide you with grace through different types of instruments and their blending makes for one unique genre, agreeable in all, with an innocent vanilla like taste although it could be perceived to some as rather identical, one from the other song. I think the interest here it's the originality and calmness that breathes through as well as the playfulness of the whole: it does have the Iceland touch without the pretentiousness maybe of higher valued "stars" and other "rock" influences.
"Kurr" will fit into someone's collection who seeks to diversify and keep abreast of the current trends without falling into the pop-group-flavor-of-the-week syndrome.

Kurr, the new album by Amiina who have been a backing band for fellow Icelanders Sigur Ros, has a totally unique sound that mixes classical style with a very modern, contemporary texture. In addition to violins and the like, the members of Amiina play a host of unusual instruments, often coaxing sounds from objects they've come across and made into instruments. The music is soothing and relaxing and while it is great as background sound, the music holds your attention. The music coming out of Iceland and Sweden are taking jazz, folk, rock and pop in whole new directions and giving us a unique interpretation that's hard to resist.