HINN ÍSLENZKI ÞURSAFLOKKUR

Þursaflokkurinn (en: "The Hobglobins") is a band that is sadly nearly forgotten today (can a band which no-one ever knew be 'forgotten' - I don't know). I cannot even argue that these guys are underrated, for the minority which knows this band say that their music is fantastic.

On this album the five musicians from Iceland combine Icelandic folk (5 of the 8 songs here are traditional Icelandic tunes, of course sung in Icelandic) a with melancholic variety of psychedelic rock à la Focus, Pink Floyd, the early Genesis or Steeleye Span, but with an omnipresent anthemic feel. But it's impossible to find a comparison to that band because they just did what they want to and just seemed to know the music of their British fellows.

The album starts off quite merrily with the cheerfully marching, but crazy refrain of Einsetumaður einu sinni, always contrasted by filigranely instrumented stanzas consisting of Égill Ólafssons wonderful, gentle voice and a decent bassoon backing (by Rúnar Vilbergsson), the acoustic guitar (played by Ólafsson as well) and Þórður Árnason's hackettish electric guitar leads (oh well - there's a lot of strange letters in that name). Of course, Mr. Árnason seems to know Genesis and loves to counterpoint vocal lines on his guitar, but in spite of that he has a very special guitar tone of his own as he uses what sounds a lot like a Fender Stratocaster gladly combined with wah-wah pedal (at least that's what I believe it to be after listening to and watching his guitar work in films). That mixture of rollicking marching folk stuff, riff-laden rock and melodic progressive rock makes this piece a first highlight, anyway.

The next composition, Sólnes is a gentler andmore wistful piece of music. It is carried along by the piano, the electric guitar and the bassoon which play some great, silent lines which echo and reply to each other shortly afterwards. Some parts are backed by the whole band, which makes a pretty huge wall of sound. But all in all the piece stays in this Genesis manner, although I also see Focus and Sky influences.

The following Stóðum tvö í túni rather goes into the Psychedelic direction. The verses are just played by the bassoon, the bass (Tómas Tómasson) and tympani beats (Ásgeir Oskarsson) - led by the exotic-sounding vocals and ensnared by a delayed and distorted electric guitar - whilst the refrain just consists of heavy blues-riffing which allows comparisons to the early Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett. In the end the song is reprised by the mandolin, wordless vocals and the bassoon solely so that one gets to know how the traditional folk tune originally sounded. Definitely another highlight.

Unfortunately, Hættu að gráta, hringaná cannot keep the standard of the first three tracks, even though it has a nice, strange rhythm and Égill Ólafsson's typical hobgoblin-voice. Although there are lyrical sequences with a more floating sound, the exalted parts are really exalted, i.e. in a Samla Mammas Manna fashion. Of course, the piece isn't bad, but with a length of just twoandahalf minutes Hættu it leaves me full of questions. But of course it's not a filler.

Nútiminn reminds me a bit of the art rock of The Who on Who's Next, especially because of the rather dominant bass guitar. Although it is a typical single (even though it was never released as such) it is highly convincing and has a catchy and intelligent melody. An interesting detail is the instrumental interlude with strange voices and awkward guitar effects which create a nice freeform/avantgarde atmosphere.

For the prog connaisseur the next piece Búnaðarbálkur could be a real delicacy, an instrumental piece with several rhythms layered over and over (sometimes something like a mix of a waltz, bolero, rhumba and standard 4/4-rock beat or stuff like that, I don't have the faintest idea how the band manages to get the exact cues). The wordless voices again intone the dwarfy cheering which gives the song a very surreal sound, but most amazing is the fantastic interaction in the band - the communication works out really fine and it sounds as if they had big fun recording that track.

Vera mátt góður is a hardly one minute short and utterly Nordic folk piece that profits from a distinctly jolting rhythm of acoustic guitar, percussion and bassoon (check out the 2008 live version sung a-cappella by Mr. Ólafsson!). That's the stuff of which the Viking Metal bands kindly used the service. Anyway it's an important interlude between the odd predecessor and the following Grafskript (which means Epitaph), which clocks at seven minutes and hence is the longest track of the CD: a funeral march, nordicly and coldly introduced by storm sounds. Soon a silent guitar and a great bass guitar enter, accompanied by an accordeon and soon followed by Ólafsson's staid and hymnal recitation. When the warily swinging drums enter the piece becomes more bombastic, but remains quite a somber and dark number which again ends in a cloistral athmosphere with the sounds of the wind and monk-like singing. Truly the most impressive one of the featured songs, a real masterpiece and in my opinion the best piece on this album.

I can highly recommend this pretty 'underground' CD to every adventurous listener who likes bands like Steeleye Span, Gentle Giant or Focus and who doesn't object to weirder RIO moments. This album is not one of those lost albums which are hyped because they come from a tiny island; it's pretty unique, in fact, and hugely entertaining despite its short length. Probably the band didn't catch the commercial train because they were too late (1978), but with their great discography they shall now have the attention they deserve. I recommend buying the not-too-expensive box set from Gregg Walker's Syn-Phonic 8m shop or the German record dealer Charly Heidenreich. If it's out of print by now, download the music from Tónlist.is.

A solid 4-star-rating is my personal opinion on a great album which unfortunately is a bit too short and at a few places not self-confident enough to bravely bridge the folk roots with the fusionesque rock ideas.

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