Emiliana Torrini
Me and Armini (Rough Trade)
By Maya Kroth
Published: September 6th, 2008 | 9:00am
Most Americans hear the words "Iceland" and "singer" and think only of a certain swan-wearing chanteuse — but the Björk association is poised to change with this release. A large and welcome departure from the spare, melancholy beauty of Torrini´s last album, Fisherman's Woman, Me and Armini plays like a book you can’t read fast enough while wishing it would never end. Armini quickly announces itself as a rollicking party of genres, textures, and rhythms: opening with a simple guitar-vocal combo that slow-burns into a beachy pop song, and following with the sassy, ska-tinged title track. It’s not until the quiet third song ("Birds") that you get to something resembling Fisherman's Woman, though even here Torrini and her producer, Dan Carey (Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip), slowly build a pared-down beginning into a jazzy, atmospheric jam complete with reggae-tinged guitar rhythms and psychedelic slide guitar.
Delivered with an intoxicating voice that bends lithely from hushed and delicate to assured and booming, Torrini’s honest, plain-spoken lyrics invite listeners in, and her knack for storytelling keeps them hooked, as on "Gun," a moody, cinematic drama of a cuckolded man’s revenge on his wife’s lover. On the next track, "Beggar's Prayer," an ethereal, angelic choir lends an eerie lift as Torrini laments a departed lover in a conversation with God.
There’s an ebullience that permeates the record both sonically and lyrically, and it's less fragile than its predecessor, which was written in the wake of the death of Torrini’s boyfriend. Here, she comes off as a woman who’s lived love's every expression — from the heady, can’t-keep-my-hands-off-you enthusiasm of its first ecstatic throes ("Jungle Drums") to the challenge of staying strong as a lover walks out ("Hold Heart") — and emerged bearing the secrets to the great mysteries of life. "Somebody’s got a long way to go," she sings to open the album. But by the end, Torrini demonstrates just how far she’s come herself.
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Emiliana Torrini’s official site
Emiliana Torrini’s MySpace page
Issue #35
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