Iceland’s Sólstafir will release Berdreyminn on 26 May via Season of Mist but we are pleased to premiere the single “Isafold” now. Over its 22-year history, the group has confounded those seeking easy comparisons. They’ve come often, over the years, but in many ways have failed to fully express the group’s tastes and influences. Sigur Rós, Ennio Morricone, and Fields of the Nephilim are but three names that have been mentioned and guitarist/vocalist Aðalbjörn Tryggvason offers more when discussing this latest track.
“The song came about very spontaneously,” he says. “It felt like the spirit of Thin Lizzy paid us a visit that day. Adding a classic Phil Rudd beat to that seemed the only right thing to do.” Tryggvason remains aware that the song broadens the group’s musical breadth and is only too happy to do so. “This is not the most typical Sólstafir track,” he says, “but in some odd way, it could be taken to represent this album. For such a short song, it offers many different sonic landscapes. And although we are not re-inventing the wheel and you will find many references to ‘classics’ as tributes, I find it quite different from anything that we have done before. That is the way I like it and, to me, ‘Ísafold’ is already an all-time favorite among all our tracks.”
With a group that has incorporated everything from psychedelic tinges, black metal and classic rock in its sound, you could hardly expect anything less than a sonically diverse and thoroughly challenging batch of songs. Berdreyminn may be preordered here.