Amiina – Puzzle

Amiina began life as a string quartet, appearing most notably on the Sigur Rós albums ( ) and Takk, before taking to opening for them on tour and eventually confining themselves to the studio alone. The result was 2007′s Kurr, which scaled down the scope of the extravagant arrangements found on those albums to little vignettes of lush violins, cello and viola which radiated with atmosphere. After mastering the art of these intimate orchestral lullabies with subsequent EP’s they now appear to almost be moving in the opposite direction, scaling their sound gradually back up to create a more cinematic and expansive sound away from the confines of the shadows of Jónsi and Co. This is no doubt a result of fleshing out their line up, last year adding electronic artist Kippi Kaninus and drummer Magnús Trygvason Eliassen to the ranks to bring percussion prominently in to play as well as toying a little more blatantly with electronics.

Opening track ‘Asinn’ is perhaps instantly the most cinematic track in their collection, an uncharacteristically noir-ish and terse electronic track which builds tension gradually amongst swarming pads and disparate glitches. Of course tension is not ordinarily something which Amiina really deal in and, particularly with it’s synthetic textures, it sets the stall out for something new. Ultimately it’s a bit of a red herring though as they return to their gleeful rustic tones for the most part thereafter. However there are certainly glimpses of this less restrained approach scattered throughout, most notably on the odd occasion when Eliassen is given the chance to put a little force behind his sticks. The lurching strings and far more strident drumming of ‘Sicsak’ evokes the kind of melodramatic darkness which Ólafur Arnalds has been turning out recently, and without wanting to go overboard with the Icelandic comparisons there are also hints of Jóhann Jóhannsson in the maudlin starkness of closer ‘Thoka’.

Though incorporating a little darkness may not be a massive change of direction (and a progression which was signposted on last year’s Re Minore EP) it does help to broaden their appeal a little and the stuff that sounds like Amiina as known is still so incredibly lovely that it’s difficult not to warm to anyway. The major chord adagios they’ve perfected are still present in the likes of ‘Mambo’, but amongst a variety of tones they sound even more delightful. As do it’s surroundings; they even drift towards territory that could even potentially be labelled as pop songs, with English lyrics and a more decidedly standard arrangement than their usual on both ‘Over and Again’ and ‘What Are We Waiting For?’.

Whilst it may struggle to hold the attention of some listeners Amiina are slowly crafting an aesthetic which is identifiably theirs, and Puzzle is the sound of them really beginning to piece together the various strands of their previous work in to something which resembles a whole. If they can continue to further push their sounds in to these more esoteric spaces then they might be able to completely shrug off the tag of Sigur Rós’ fey backing band. As it is though it’s hardly the worst title to have, and when they’re making music as sweet as this then it’s likely that anyone who discovers them through this association will love them all the same.