BSÍ ‘sometimes depressed… but always antifascist’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

Just like a football match the debut album from the enigmatic BSÌ is a game of two halves, and not unlike England's capitulation to the duo's Icelandic countrymen in Euro 2016 Sometimes depressed… but always antifascist is entirely unexpected – and a lot less likely to piss people off and lose Roy Hodgson his job.

Split neatly down the middle (just like that centre back pairing of Cahill and Smalling…), the band's debut is in essence two different records, one dominated by solemn, melancholy electronica and the other a bright, breezy and slightly unhinged surf-punk romp.

 

The album's turning point is its latest single, the hyperactive 'Vesturbæjar Beach', a sunny slice of joyful summer garage rock, and one made all the more impactful for following the bittersweet synths of the gentle '25Lue', a highlight of the record's softer side. But the signs of oddness are there even in this most accessible of cuts – while the 'Sometimes depressed' half of the album is warm and woeful but ultimately relatable and familiar, the 'always antifascist' side is a lot more challenging and the strange shrieks and plucks in the background of 'Vesturbæjar Beach' are just the beginning.

 

From its siren call opening to its frenzied (and positive) reclamation of the word "slut" halfway through, the following track 'Feela það' is far from conventional, and the distortion-laden vocals on 'Dónakallalagið' go quite some way towards a full sensory overload – the contrast to the cushiony synths on tender opening track 'My Lovely' is stark to say the least. 

 

Only once do the duo truly combine the best of both worlds (and it could just as easily be a happy accident as a calculated plan), Silla Thorarensen's vocals delicate and measured over the unashamed pop euphoria of 'My Knee Against Kyriarchy', marrying the unbridled energy of the second half with the more digestible structures of the first to give a tantalising taste of what could have been. Taken as a whole, listening to Sometimes depressed… but always antifascist is a bit like eating soup with a fork and steak with a spoon, not quite right but within touching distance of something fabulous.

Words - Joe Ponting

BSÍ official