Illuminate My Heart, My Darling!

THE SAMUEL JACKSON FIVE -
EASILY MISUNDERSTOOD

 

 Youtube || Download

The Samuel Jackson Five is a progressive Norwegian band with the cheesiest / funniest name in post-rock. Their brand of slightly jazz and slightly folk influenced music, and their use of a wide variety of instruments and sounds, is really fun to listen to. Each song on Easily Misunderstood gives the listener something different to sink into. From guitar driven rhythms to full string ensembles, slow and easy songs to jumpy and energetic songs, and all while maintaining a high level of musicianship and a sound that is uniquely SJ5.

YNDI HALDA -
ENJOY ETERNAL BLISS

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‘Yndi Halda’ is Old Norse for “Enjoy Eternal Bliss”, which is the title of this 3 song EP that they released in 2007. With an expansive cinematic sound akin to that of Mono, Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Rós, and Mogwai, Yndi Halda continues on in their footsteps flawlessly. Although the album consists of only 3 songs, they are all in excess of 11 minutes long, the longest being the monolithic Illuminate My Heart, My Darling!, which struggles to be contained in two separate youtube videos at 21:54. One of the only downfalls of this albums is that the songs require so much attention, which is a set back for casual listeners. However, contained within each song is a variety of different phases and sounds that are held together with high quality recording and songwriting. If you're a fan of any of the aforementioned bands, I highly recommend picking this gem up.



 How is this format compared to my previous one? I kinda felt like I was half-assing the whole process before, and kind of cheating on the followers. Maybe just being able to click play and listen was what made people stick around? Or perhaps it was Nono. I don't know!