Artist of the Week: Sing Fang

I remember falling asleep to songs like “I Sing I Swim” and “Cat Piano” by the seven-man band Seabear in high school. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at its front man’s more experimental work, Sin Fang. Icelandic singer/songwriter Sindri Már Sigfússon’s recently put out his third album, Flowers, under his newest name. Sigur Ros producer Alex Somers helped with the release and the result is a beautiful, soaring album full of spacey vocals, piano and violin.

Recurring themes like dreaming, unrequited love and ghosts from the past are scattered in the lyrics. Sigfússon is emotional and relatable, but strong; an everyday guy who seems like a hopeless romantic, one who can’t resist picking himself up again after each heartbreak.

Sigfússon’s first effort, Clangour was released under the name Sin Fang Bous, and his sophomore release Summer Echoes was credited to the simplified Sin Fang. Flowers, his third release came out early this month, and it’s the most confident album of this project so far. Dropping some of the folksy weight from Seabear and Sin Fang’s earlier releases, Flowers is upbeat and heavily textured for an interesting, awake listening experience.

Start with the song “Young Boys,” for a nice warm-up, followed by “What’s Wrong With Your Eyes,” for a bigger musical build. Violins, vocal distortions, and deep synth bass help amp up the sound at no expense to the melodic folk inspirations. Next comes “Look at the Light,” for a more reflective ballad. It has some lyrics that I loved, “Breathe into my mouth, write your name in my palm, I couldn’t speak for a long time, Everything you did was some sort of sign for me to read into, But I couldn’t understand you.” After those three, you may as well listen to the album in order because it’s beautifully and emotionally structured, like a well-thought out mixtape.

Sin Fang currently only has shows scheduled close to home in Iceland and Norway, but with the popularity of Seabear combined with all the attention this Sin Fang’s been getting on music blogs like The Line of Best Fit, international tours might be in Sigfússon’s future.