Indians
Somewhere Else
4AD / Playground

This is a new tribe of Indians. Indians is in fact another one of those one-man-projects. Søren Løkke Juul hails from København (Copenhagen), and as Indians he (they - there's a couple of side-kicks) held his (their) first gig in his hometown last February. 4AD snapped and signed the creative talent during the summer of 2012, and now here's the debut album. Back in the late 80s/early 90s it could've been out on the One Little Indian label...

Indians and Somewhere Else are about dreamy, melancholic bedroom pop a little on the avant-indie side. Maybe slightly related to Sufjan Stevens, but even more to Perfume Genius. Or, another personal favourite of mine: Radical Face. Even Bon Iver comes to mind now and again. Here's comforting and pleasing songs, like they're spinning some sort of slow-motion merry-go-round pop music web. Fairytalish. Spellbinding. Søren's got a mild, yet distinct voice, and the songs are all of the beautiful kind. The instrumentation is quite sparse and careful. Synths, keyboards, acoustic guitars, calm rhythms - but most of all: gliding, sparkling vocals. Somewhere Else holds 10 tracks. It's hard to pick a favourite track over one other (well, "Cakelakers", "Bird", "I Am Haunted", "Magic Kids", and "La Femme" can be namedropped), as it is to pin down weak moments. This is mainly pure pleasure, all the way through.

Watch out, the Indians are coming! They're after musical scalps. Or, is it the Eastern Indians, looking for the meditative way of life? Anyway, this is the sound of excellence. For sure a warming album in a cold, Scandinavian midwinter.

Copyright © 2013 Håvard Oppøyen