Published March 28, 2012
Isn’t there some other album called this? Now, the music here is basically irrelevant, so I’m pretty much just gonna talk about the lyrics. While this may seem counterproductive, as this is an English-language publication and the lyrics are all in Icelandic, but since the music is basically irrelevant, and I can’t for the life of me imagine why the hell you’re reading a review of a Baggalútur album for if you don’t speak Icelandic, I’m gonna go ahead anyway.
The lyrics have their occasional moments of wit, but like most Icelandic comedians, Baggalútur are too obsessed with being consistent and making sense, and have a tendency to make their jokes too long and noticeably lacking in punchlines. ‘Gærkvöldið,’ for instance, may be littered with contemporary slang that’s been cleverly rhymed and metered to fit with a forgettable adult pop song, but that’s THE WHOLE ENTIRE SONG. There’s nothing else in it. ‘Þetta er búið’ and ‘Uppgjörið 2006’ is basically just a dull sing-song with a bunch of predictably acerbic rhymes about THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY. Yes, they really are that lame.
So. Asides from some okay lyrics about stuff that’s sort-of interesting to someone who’s lived in Iceland for at least five years, there’s little of real value here. The music is cheap, unremarkable and competently played and sung, with bland and inoffensive production, and are primarily vehicles for the lyrics, which… well, I’ve probably made point already. Baggalútur even fail at making the songs catchy, with the exception of ‘Brostu,’ a fine pop song and definitely the musical highlight of the record (or compilation? Whatever), but even that still kind of sucks.
www.baggalutur.is
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