He debuted on recording in August 2008 with the EP ‘Favors & Fields’, a split-vinyl with lauded singer/songwriter Moddi whose live band Einar Stray’s been a member of since that very year, and this February the full length debut ‘Chiaroscuro’ hit the shelves in his native Norway to great and well deserved critical acclaim.

Who are they?
Singer, songwriter et al., Einar Stray, backed by members of Moddi, Laura, Team Me and Shimmering, with Sjur Lyseid (The Little Hands of Asphalt, Monzano) on production duty.

How’s the album?
With just seven songs and a running time of almost 50 minutes it looks, on paper, like a bit of a mouthful, but fortunately Stray’s melodic flair, firm grip on melancholy and attention to giving details makes it a very tasty so. It’s post-rock combining the sounds and feel of acts like Efterklang, For A Minor Reflection and – of course, you might say when it comes to a Scandinavian artist doing this – Sigur Rós, and covering both the subtle and the dramatic with marvelous highlights in 8 minutes 30 seconds opening title track, ‘We Were The Core Seeds’ (in the player) and beautiful instrumental album closer ‘Teppet Faller’ (which probably could be translated to “curtain fall”), the latter with a touch of genius neoclassical composer Ólafur Arnalds in the aching piano and strings. An excellent debut…

Check it out if you like:
Sigur Rós, Efterklang, For A Minor Reflection and other great post-rockers…

More Einar Stray:
On Facebook
On NRK Urørt
On MySpace
On www

Genre: Post-rock
Who: Einar Stray
Album: Chiaroscuro
Label: Spoon Train Audio
Year: 2011
Country: Norway
Language: English
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Recommended tracks:
Chiaroscuro – We Were The Core Seeds – Teppet Faller