From Iceland — My Summer as a Salvation Soldier - Anarchists Are Hopeless Romantics

Published October 2, 2005

From the first harmonized chorus: “After all that we’ve been through/ these are the memories that I will have of you/ when the years are dead and gone, not a single conversation just this song,” singer Þórir G. Jónsson, going now by a more pronounceable My Summer as a Salvation Soldier, indicates a more palatable understanding of song and songwriting than he did on his debut record, I Believe In This. Gone are the wavering vocals and inconsistencies. In fact, any lack of confidence has evaporated.
If you don’t know Þórir’s music, he might be described as a blend of American-style singer songwriter in the style of Bright Eyes, with a small amount of The Cure influence. This album demonstrates Þórir’s songwriting skills – while stripped down, there is a polish to the guitar work that belies Þórir’s 21 years of age. One thing missing from Anarchists are the true zinger lines – instead of “Your laughter’s like a tumour,” we get a little more swearing, and an unfortunately conventional reference to quitting medicine and talking to himself.
Truthfully, the absence of zingers allows the songs on Anarchists to play a little more clean – there is a clean blend here of early British pop and American folk. Þórir continues to impress.