Pascal Pinon - Sundur [Morr Music 147 Promo]

Scheduled for release on August 19th, 2016 is "Sundur", the third album effort by the Icelandic duo Pascal Pinon which is comprised of the sisters Jofridur and Asthildur Akadottir whose self-titled debut was released via Morr Music back in 2009.  Now they're back on the Berlin-based imprint with eleven new songs which are basically and mostly dealing with the fact that the pair of sisters have been living apart from each other for the first time in recent years, resulting in a two day recording session covering most of the albums body of work with a little help from their father who, apart from engineering the session, added some layers of unusual percussion bits here and there. The outcome of this recording session is a quite sparse, emotional and very intimate take on modernistic Folk that might rely on guitar or piano only as instrumental foundation or, like in the massive, slow grooving anthem that is "Forest", is built on Electronica-resembling structures that make everyone's head bop for a reason. "Skammdegi", one of a few songs sung in Icelandic, comes across like an old, beautifully executed folksong that's brushed up with organic synth pads whilst a song like "Fuglar" is oozing with deep melancholia and "Spider Light" introduces lovely vintage drum machines and a warm, playful positivity for all those appreciating touching instrumental cuts on usually vocal driven albums. Another remarkable and deeply melancholia-driven piece is "Babies", not only due to its metallic percussions and epic pads that seem slightly out of tune but still are heartwarming for sure, touching our innermost needs before "Ast" brings in more stripped down, ballad'esque and natural pulchritude and the closing "Weeks" pass by on rhythmical and well-twisted sinewave modulations which could also be found in a song written by Iceland's most-recognized female musical export - Björk. So as an overall verdict "Sundur" is another proof of - if any was needed at all - why the islands music scene is praised all over the world and we can't wait to see Pascal Pinon live on tour at some point, hopefully in a city near us, and you, as well! Great album. Check.

Album artwork on Instagram!