Olvis - Bravado

Third album from Icelandic maverick Orlygur Thor Orlygsson, following last year's much-adored second full length the Blue Sound and the previous year's eponymous debut. Continuing the linear progression evident from first album to second, Bravado raises the bar further, with an equal split between lush instrumentals and hypnotic full vocal tracks (in his native tongue). with comparisons and appeal across the board, from chill out to Richard Hawley, Olvis' music defies classification, but ultimately has a heartwarming, relaxing, all-encompassing feel that renders pigeonholing unnecessary. As with the Blue Sound, Bravado features the A-list of Reykjavik musicians as a supporting cast within it's fourteen tracks: Sigur Ros drummer Orri Dyrason plays drums on four tracks, with fellow Sigur Ros member Georg Holm playing bass on two tracks, along with percussion and drums on three tracks from Apparat Organ Quartet's Arnar Geir Omarsson and violin from Maria Huld Markan Sigfusdottir from Amina (Sigur Ros' string quartet) on one track. The whole album was written and produced by Orlygsson himself, and was recorded mainly at Sigur Ros' Sundlaugin studio during the fall of 2005, and lyrically touches upon Orlygur's disillusionment with global capitalism and US hegemony - not that you'd know it, unless you speak Icelandic.