Back in December Icelandic seven-piece Seabear released the first single and B-side from ‘We Built A Fire’, the followup to 2007s acclaimed debut ‘The Ghost That Carried Us Away’, with founding father Sindri Már Sigfússon (also Sin Fang Bous) stating that the new album would mark a move away from folk/country towards “more experimental indierock stuff”.

With the rest of the band taking part in the writing process this time, there are hints at this move in harder edged songs like ‘Soft Ship’, ‘Wolfboy’ and ‘Warm Blood’, but the alternative folk is still very much a core element of the Icelanders somewhat symphonic (they’re big on strings, horns and intriguing choir arrangements) and deeply pleasant sound and feel, the latter embodied in Sigfússon’s airy, trademark vocal.

As suggested it is a baby step Seabear take towards the above mentioned “indierock stuff” on ‘We Built A Fire’. The album isn’t a masterpiece and it is at times a little too pleasant to really stick, but I like it – and that’s really all I can ask…

Genre: Alt-folk/Rock
Who: Seabear
Album: We Built A Fire
Label: Morr Music/Bonnier Amigo
Year: 2010
Country: Iceland
Language: English
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Recommended tracks:
Lion Face Boy – Fire Dies Down – Cold Summer – We Fell Off The Roof – Warm Blood