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Elly Roberts reviews

Storsveit Nix Noltes: Royal Family – Divorce

Distributed by
Fat Cat Records

Released: Out now

Rating: 8/10

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Crash–bang-wallop Balkan style, from, er, Iceland?

Now this is a tricky one. Take 11 musicians hell bent on making a racket, for much of the time. Then, they base their music on the far flung edges of Eastern Europe. Got the picture?

Anyway, Royal Family – Divorce isn’t for the fainthearted. It can be a bit of a white knuckle ride actually. It all depends what you can find to appreciate (and please you maybe) in this often chaotic album. Organised chaos, that is. One thing’s for sure, you won’t hear anything like it in 2009, or any year come to that. By now I’m sure, you think it’s in for a right old panning. No. You do need to keep an open mind though.

Maybe, the stepping stone to this is the fabulous Beirut album The Flying Club Cup, or better still Gulag Orkestar. There aren’t any direct musical comparisons; it’s just the idea of musical displacement – somebody from one country delving into another country or region’s heritage. To me the concept is simply mouth-watering.

SNN, for brevity’s sake, take Beirut’s idea to another level. Yes, this is edgy and often heady stuff, but there are some magnificent and sublime moments to juxtapose with the apparent mayhem.

Musically, the twist and turns, stops and starts are amazing: the passion and fire is unstoppable. Instruments include banjo, trumpets, trombone, cello, electric guitar, double bass, drums, violin, accordion, sousaphone, euphonium, oh, and a computer, all coming together.

Can you imagine it? If not, try the myspace link below.

The verdict: Superb.

Weblink: myspace.com/storsveitnixnoltes

The full list of tracks included are :

1. Wedding Rachenitsa 2. Krivo Sadovsko Horo 3. Pajdusko 4. Atmadja Duma Strachilu (Revolution Song) 5. Elenska Rachenitsa 6. Kopanitsa 7. Trakijska Recenica 8. Cetvorno Horo 9. Winding Horo 10. Nevestinko Horo

Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.

As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.

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