We'll have an EP review from Icelandic / Russian duo 'Pale Moon' in a while but we wanted to start the day with another introduction to a band we haven't featured before. 'Benedikt' have been on our radar for a while, but it was actually their inclusion on the line-up for our favourite small music festival 'Indiefjord' which gave us the nudge to make sure we wrote about them as soon as we had the chance.
So 'Benedikt' started as the solo project of musician Hans Olav Settems solo project, but quickly grew members and now has 9 Norwegians musicians working on the folk influenced project which should soon see the release of their debut album entitled 'Communal Work' and which they claim is akin to ''Britney Spear's 'I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman' but with banjos''. The album release date is 24th May, and we're really looking forward to it already.
In the meantime they've released the single 'Paper Mache', and it's an impressive and assured track which has a gentle authority with soft 'Sufjan Stevens' style vocals, accompanied by those banjos and the subtlest contributions from an assortment of instruments. There is a gorgeous melody that carries the track, whilst every additional musical sound seems to be carefully thought through, so even though there's 9 musicians it never quite feels like it.
This is 'Paper Mache':
We'll definitely update everyone once the album is released (although it might be later in June due to vacations), and in the meantime please check out both Benedikt and the Indiefjord festival. The line-up for the festival is starting to take shape, and already they've signed up both 'Beverly Kills' and 'Simen Mitlid' who we've written about very recently, and they've incredibly managed to get Darren Hanlon all the way from Australia too. We'll definitely be following every 'signing' they make, and will try and write about as many as possible - given we know already they have excellent music taste.
And go and check out Indiefjord too, it is the most amazing festival set in an incredible location, and I am still looking at the logistics of whether I could get there myself.... a long shot, but it would be worth it.