What you say
No-one has reviewed Benni Hemm Hemm by Benni Hemm Hemm yet.
What we say
 This record left our Brian feeling unmoved.
Not checked much out on esteemed Berlin label Morr for a while. The halcyon days of
Hermann & Kleine & Lali Puna seem to be firmly in the past as I've not had my ears pricked for a while. But now
I'm being serenaded by the sounds of Icelandic act BENNI HEMM HEMM who comes across like a perky cross between
The Go team, Stereolab & Calexico.
The indecipherable multi layered lyrics suit the euphoric stereophonic
strum pop beautifully. I can hear the big band folk pop strains of
Love, Gorky's Zygotic Mynki & Sufjan Stevens
in these perky bittersweet
lullabies. There's a couple of English language tracks on here but the
one that brings a smile to our eyes is the darkly hilarious country pop
strut of 'I Can Love You in a Wheelchair, Baby', a potential
alternative reality No.1. There's a warm swell to the whole album, a
genuine (northern) soul, an almost celebratory melancholy. If you can
imagine a country
campfire SFA in parts then you'll be getting somewhere near but take
all the aforementioned bands and roll them up into a nice big dish of
puffin canneloni & consume. 12 tracks on a digipak CD plus a dinky
7" containing 2 of the tracks but no big vinyl.
What the label says:
Bio:
Benni Hemm Hemm released the E.P. SummerPlate in the summer of 2003. The E.P. was a solo release, produced by Benedikt H. Hermannsson. The E.P. got one review that was very nice, by Árni Matthíasson at Morgunblaðið.
After the first and only SummerPlate concert at Gallerí Nema Hvað, Benni moved to Italy for a few months. There he wrote the bulk of the first full album under the name of Benni Hemm Hemm. The first performance of the big band of Benni Hemm Hemm, was on the 1st of May, 2004, at the 5th birthday of Kitchen Motors. And after that performance there was no turning back. In November the band started recording in Sundlaugin, the best studio in Iceland. There were seven songs recorded on 24 tracks on a very busy weekend.
Then in May 2005 the band recorded five more tracks in Klink & Bank. Klink & Bank was a very big working space for Icelandic artists that was rented out for free.
On the 2nd of September 2005 the Benni Hemm Hemm album was released in Iceland, on Smákökurnar.
On the 20th of January 2006 the album was released in Japan, on P-Vine Records.
On the 18th of August 2006 the album was released in Europe, on Morr Music.
On the 5th of September 2006 the album was released in the US, also on Morr Music. |
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Other items by Benni Hemm Hemm:
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