Hjaltalín are Iceland’s newest about-to-be export. Their debut album ‘Sleepdrunk Seasons’, released to great acclaim in Iceland December 2007, was produced by Gunni Tynes of múm and Benni Hemm Hemm, and has already sold gold in Iceland.
The album was released rest of Europe in late 2008 and early 2009 and received extremely positive reviews across the continent, with medias such as The Guardian, Drowned in Sound and Plan B praising the band.
In Iceland Hjaltalín have played with artist such as Jens Lekman, Akron/Family, Danielson, Annuals and Bloc Party, and have also toured outside of Iceland with Cold War Kids and fellow Icelanders in múm. In 2009 Hjaltalín have been touring almost constantly and played festivals such as Latitute, Roskilde, Haldern Pop, Open’er, Truck, Slottsfjell and more. Beside touring the band has been busy working on their sophomore album, which has involved a full size orchestra they recorded in a warehouse next to Reykjavík harbor. The album is due early next year.
Hjaltalín are from Reykjavik, a band as promising as any of the other beautiful and eclectic artists the country has thrown up. With seven members, it’s difficult to know whether to call them a small orchestra, a mutated and overgrown rock band or something else entirely. Besides the regular guitar, bass and drums, the band also comprises piano, bassoon and a violin, complementing the exquisite lilt of Högni and Sigga’s vocals. This unique group of instrumentalists form an allegiance which already has a very solid fan base amongst both critics and the public on home ground and in various places in Europe. The rest of the world lies in wait and will surely be theirs in due course…
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