Belafonte - Belafonte - Tímaskína

Belafonte’s approach to composition is to borrow from the old and combine it with the new. Fascinated by sounds and harmonies from past eras, their unique brand of indie-electro combines at times with an old jazz standard feel, at others with 70s American funk. The ever-present dramatic undercurrent is unsurprising given the background of members Styrmir Sigurðsson and Sara Marti Guðmundsdóttir in filmmaking and acting.

For this album Belafonte totally lost track of time crawling around in an underground lair with microphones, midi cables, the occasional jazz musician and a lot of coffee. Their eyes will take some time adjusting to daylight again. After all this time they are utterly unrecognizable, even to their closest families. On the album Styrmir composed songs and fiddled around with stuff, pianos and computers. Sara's role was clearly breathing life into the whole thing. Doing so she mostly applied her soul which is conveniently connected to her voice.

The duo also had great help from truly beautiful people: drummers Helgi Svavar Helgason and Sigtryggur Baldursson, bassists: Andri Ólafsson and Jóhann Ásmundsson, guitarists Steingrímur Eyfjörð Guðmundsson and Daníel Friðrik Böðvarsson. Eiríkur Stephensen on saxophone and Unnur Birna Björnsdottir being a whole string section.

"Belafonte" can be bought now on www.belafonte.bandcamp.com and www.gogoyoko.com/artist/belafonte.