From Iceland — Brylli Næstumþví Maðurinn

Published July 22, 2005

When a CD with a supple-buttocked naked man leaping in front of a mountain appears on your desk, no explanations, just a price, you don’t exactly put it in your stereo with high expectations. With no expectations at all, Brylli’s disk was a pleasant—if schizophrenic—surprise. Sometimes a grunge-rocker (bad), sometimes a troubadour, sometimes a power popper, Brylli has a remarkable tenor voice… with occasional pitch-control issues, intelligent lyrics and the disk features outstanding musicianship. The complaint would be that the songs jump genre to genre pretty quickly, and the lyrics, all in Icelandic, require thought.