Wot? A boy band in Nordic Music Review? Why not, they have the same right as anyone else. It’s on us, you might say.
Boncyan (say ‘bon – see ann’, like the bright blue colour) has been “in the making” for some time.
They are Faroese producer Janus Rasmussen, his countryman and songwriter Sakaris, and British writer Tom Hannay, who came together to form Reykjavik, Iceland-based ‘art-pop collective’ Boncyan; described as “a rambunctious yet mature throwback to the boy bands of yesteryear.”
They “all go way back”, which is a polite way of saying that ‘boy band’ is being a little economical with the truth and have released songs under a previous name, ‘Bodypaint’. After a successful festival tour, including Iceland Airwaves, they felt the need to continue under a more ‘serious’ name with a little less Google image in the results. Hence Boncyan.
With regards to this song they say, "While the world was closing down we became strangely nostalgic about our own musical upbringing and decided to write something that would pay homage to how great the world was. Growing up, we had the best of both worlds, with our formative years being spent before the internet and the parallel universe of social media. We wanted to write something that reflected the casual naïveté of our youthful days."
That’s actually a new angle on the pre-Internet/socmed days and one you will increasingly find in YouTube comments as not only the baby boomers but their own kids and millennial offspring tune into favourites from the 70s/80s/90s, the latter with wide-eyed wonder.
And this is broadly speaking 1990s material, very well produced with a catchy melody and a very credible vocal from Hannay. Like all the best boy bands, “they don’t take themselves too seriously and know exactly how to please a crowd.”
They aren’t Take That, Westlife, or Boyzone but they aren’t chancers coming out of left field either. If there’s any life left in this genre we could be hearing much more of them.
Find them on Facebook.