Amiina

Icelandic sextet Amiina may lack the profile of their contemporaries and sometime band-mates Sigur Rós, but their music – created on such disparate instruments as glockenspiel, melodica, violin, zither, drums, piano accordion, and even a saw – is equally beautiful, though less robust; a fragile, haunting assemblage of sounds.

Amiina first visited Australia in 2006, playing with Sigur Rós as their string section on the band’s Takk tour. Then a quartet, comprising Hildur Ársælsdóttir, Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir, Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir and Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir, recent years have seen Amiina add two additional members: drummer and percussionist Magnús Trygvason Eliassen (aka ‘Maggi’) and electronic artist Kippi Kaninus.

For their performance at the Melbourne Recital Centre on January 18 the band played as a quintet, with the maternity leave–induced absence of Sumarliðadóttir evident but not commented upon.

Their first three tracks blended together almost seamlessly: the hypnotic, minimal ‘Nebula’; the slow accretion of organ, electronica, zither and drums which is ‘Ásinn’ (both lifted from Amiina’s latest album Puzzle); and ‘Kolapot’ (from the band’s first album, Kurr), with its softly chiming bells and xylophones and whispered, wordless vocals. At first more soundscape than song, the music built up in a glorious, stirring crescendo before slowly subsiding into silence, every note and instrument beautifully clear in the perfect acoustics of the Recital Centre’s Elisabeth Murdoch Hall.

Most, though not all songs were subsequently introduced by an exceptionally jetlagged Maggi, whose charming accent and engaging, daggy personality endeared him to the crowd. Highlights included the chilled, precise sounds of ‘Seoul’ with its chorus of precisely timed reception desk-style bells; a brand new song called ‘Nyja’ or ‘The New Song’: jaunty, almost folky, featuring xylophone, ukulele, and the shimmering notes of an electric violin contrasted with drums and piano accordion; and from Amiina’s very first EP, AnimaminA, the fragile, lustrous ‘Hemipode’.

Throughout the performance, members of the band displayed their versatility by regularly swapping instruments, often mid-song, sometimes almost dancing across stage in their stocking-clad feet.

For their encore, Amiina played two tracks, the first introduced by Maggi as “a country song; this is the first time we’ve played it live. Dolly Parton would be so proud”. The final song of the night was the almost pop-like ‘Ammælis’, a B-side from the single release of ‘Seoul’, dynamic, engaging and extremely upbeat.

Resonant, delicate, shimmering and unique, this was a beguiling evening of contemporary music from one of Iceland’s finest exports.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Amiina – 2012 Australian Tour
Melbourne Recital Centre, January 18 – 19
Hobart, MONA FOMA: January 20 – 21
Sydney Festival: January 24 – 26
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith: January 27