Sóley, a member of the Icelandic troupe Seabear, is prepared to drop her sophomore release, We Sink, October 4 on Morr Music. A keyboardist and backup vocalist by trade, first thoughts on her solo project is that she was made for the spotlight. “I’ll Drown” is the first track we’ve heard from the forthcoming LP and it joins the experimental pop sounds of Seabear and Sin Fang with the unique, quite spirited vocals of Sóley Stefánsdóttir.

Intricate and intimate, “I’ll Drown” is layered with thick textures, overlapping vocals and a heavy emphasis on piano and percussion. Grab the track below and look for We Sink, likely available for pre-orders sometime in September. Sóley’s debut EP, Theater Island is out now on Morr.

Download: “I’ll Drown” by Sóley

Sindri Már Sigfússon is on a roll. In 2009, his Clangour under Sin Fang (then Sin Fang Bous) received a top 10 place. 2010 saw his full Icelandic group, Seabear, crack the top 5 with We Built A Fire. Sindri is back with his follow up to Clangour. The album is called Summer Echoes and it drops March 15 thanks to Morr Music. As his projects go, the video for “Because Of The Blood” includes psychedelic mixed-media elements. And he dons a beard of doilies.

We found on Clangour a highly upbeat style of dreamy pop songs, flirting lightly with experimentation and psychedelia. “Because Of The Blood” follows suit, but it’s more mature, albeit only slightly. There’s seemingly more depth — although it could merely be the freshness of the song, as Clangour has played through my speakers hours on end since ’09. However you look at it, Summer Echoes is an album to anticipate greatly. Check out the video below and grab that mp3 of “Always Everything” while you’re at it!

Download: “Always Everything” by Sin Fang

Sin Fang – Because Of The Blood from Máni M. Sigfússon on Vimeo.

Ólafur Arnalds is a Icelandic neo-classical artist whose work is at the forefront of the clash between classical and indie music. After debuting in 2007 with Eulogy for Evolution, the Arnalds is now set to release its follow-up LP, …And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness. The first single is “Þú ert sólin” and it translates roughly to “You Are The Sun”. Stacked up next to Eulogy for Evolution, Arnalds continues his to impress with a song both emotive and uplifting. “You Are The Sun” is an ample title, conveying the warmth of sun rays on a cool spring morning. It doesn’t have the power he packed into the frantic closers of Evolution, “3326″ and “3704/3837″ respectively, but it matches them in creativity, brilliance and sheer genius.

Download: “Þú ert sólin” by Ólafur Arnalds

When it comes to Sindri Már Sigfússon, be it visual or audible, you know the result will be uniquely experimental and colorful dream pop. The videos from his solo project, Sin Fang Bous, were pretty astounding. And that theme remains with Seabear‘s “I’ll Build You A Fire”, a video directed by Mani Sigfússon, Sindri’s brother.

Like “Lion Face Boy”, which was released as a 7-inch early this month, “I’ll Build You A Fire” sounds very much like Sin Fang Bous but is adorned with more members, which means more instrumentation and more vocals. Always one to spotlight melody and harmony, the added musicians provide Sindri with the perfect fodder to take that emphasis to the next level.

“I’ll Build You A Fire” is off We Built A Fire, out in March on Morr Music.

Seabear: Lion Face Boy (Single Version) [mp3]

Seabear: i´ll build you a fire from morr music on Vimeo.

A favorite from last year was Sindri Már Sigfússon’s solo project Sin Fan Bous; an album titled Clangour. Prior to striking out on his own under this moniker, Sigfússon had a different solo project, one called Seabear. It evolved into something else, something larger and more complex – a seven-piece group of fellow Icelanders.

“Lion Face Boy” is the first single off Seabear’s sophomore release. The sound is familiar as a poppier, less experimental version of Sin Fang Bous, or rather Sindri’s solo project is a less poppier and more experimental version of Seabear. And it’s full of additional instruments; orchestration rather than electronics. Thankfully, it’s no less amazing.

Seabear will release We Built A Fire in March 2010. This particular version of “Lion Face Boy” is off the 7-inch, and (no surprise) is dubbed the “Single Version.” The B-Side is “Cold Summer”.

Seabear: Lion Face Boy (Single Version) [mp3]

I always pictured Mum as one of those great post-rock groups with leanings toward electronic bleeps and bloops and lightly orchestrated melodies with dark sound-scapes, all of it instrumental. After all, Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is Okay was pretty much just that, and it is the only album from Mum of which I’ve heard. Their new one, Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know is quite different – at least at first. And I just haven’t quite gotten over the shock of less electronics and… well, the full inclusion of vocals.

Still, initial head turning inquiries aside, Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know isn’t half bad. In fact, it’s quite solid. The melody in “Sing Along”, after a few listens, surpasses anything off Yesterday/Today. And, instead of coming in around a Mogwai reference, these sounds are more in line with a group like Architecture In Helsinki minus that group’s occasional overt and over-the-top cheesiness. It has moments that come close (I’m thinking of you, “The Smell Of Today Is Sweet Like The Breast Milk In The Wind”), but the overall hypnotic mannerisms of these songs leave them in an altogether different universe.

Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know is packed with light, bouncy pop tunes like “Prophecies And Reversed Memories” and “Blow Your Nose” that are filled with highly melodic instrumentation and obscure instruments (in the former, what sounds like a didgeridoo). In a way, the inclusion of full vocals give this band a completely different personality, as if having undergone electroshock therapy. And as such procedures are meant to do, the resulting alterations to that personality are ones that many will agree as being much more enjoyable than the prior.

Morr Music [CD, 2009]

1. If I Were A Fish
2. Sing Along
3. Prophecies And Reversed Memories
4. A River Don’t Stop To Breathe
5. The Smell Of Today Is Sweet Like The Breast Milk In The Wind
6. Show Me
7. Hullabbalabbaluu
8. Blow Your Nose
9. Kay-Ray-Ku-Ku-Ko-Kex
10. The Last Shapes Of Never
11. Illuminated
12. Ladies Of The New Century

When it comes to music, Iceland is known to be a little out there. Experimentation is nothing new, and the country’s own Sin Fang Bous is no different. The solo project of Sindri Mar Sigfusson, Sin Fang Bous’ debut experimental pop album, Clangour, deserves great praise. A fascinating thing it would be to catch Sigfusson live, and that’s exactly what you here in the Pacific Northwest can do as November dawns on us. Sin Fang Bous is hitting the states with Icelandic pals Múm, who are coming here to support their new record, Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know.

Check out “Catch The Light” and the live West Coast dates below.

Sin Fang Bous: Catch The Light [mp3]

Sin Fang Bous on Tour:

11.02.09: Richards on Richards in Vancouver, British Columbia
11.03.09: Showbox at the Market in Seattle, Washington
11.04.09: Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon
11.05.09: The Independent in San Francisco, California
11.06.09: El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, California
11.07.09: Yost Theatre in Santa Ana, California