release date: Apr. 26, 2018
format: digital (7 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
producer: ?
label: Post-dreifing - nationality: Iceland
Track highlights: 1. "Prakkari" - 2. "Downward Dog" (live) - 3. "Ocean Is Amber" - 4. "EoEo" (live) - 7. "Lokadans (Onofos)"
Studio album debut by Icelandic three-piece Gróa comes with an album title stylised in capital letters. The name of the band is taken from Norse mythology and the völva, and goddess of knowledge named Gróa. The trio consists of the two Maríudóttir sisters: drummer Hrafnhildur Einars Maríudóttir (aka Hrabba) and younger sister Karólína Einars Maríudóttir (aka Karó) on guitar and lead vocals teamed up with bassist Fríða Björg Pétursdóttir.
The trio plays an experimental type of art punk, which here appears inspired by punk rock, post-punk, and noise rock, but it's also tempting to list Björk, The Sugarcubes, and Kukl as natural inspiration sources, although, there's also an original tone burried in these quite diverse compositions. This album of seven tracks [sold on bandcamp] with a total running time of just over 23 minutes is a fine and refreshing short take on established styles, and it will be exciting to follow the trio in a near future, as they manage to come out with something to offer other than the ordinary, which succeeds both in terms of melody and as an alternative to mainstream music.
Recommended.