Delicia Mini Skuggi by: Mark Simms Mon:25-Jun-07 Label: Morningside Year: 2007 WB rating 74 out of 100

The Delicia Mini is a Czech organ-type keyboard, an instrument capable of producing an assortment of noises and sounds that may be new to many ears, and while at first it appears to be uncommon and unusual, its flexibility as an instrument eventually wins over. The sound of Delicia Mini is definitely hard to categorise; a malleable assortment of slow and brooding arrangements, rootsy electric guitars that dance alongside one another, bouncy banjo’s, shaking percussion that moves the tracks along, and group vocals that work regardless of the incompatibility of the voices. The pacing is slow and contemplative, giving the listener the chance to take in each sound, and that is a good thing, as so many lay hidden in each track, waiting to be discovered. It’s a collection of multi-layered songs created by multi layered instruments, where although first hard to take, have the ability to grow on the listener, just like the Delicia Mini.

In ‘Back To Pieces’ a radio friendly mix of  buoyant guitar melodies, a catchy drum beat and easy-on-the-ear vocals are digested quite easily. While it’s an alluring track where the guitar takes charge in a charming way, it’s a song that could lose its appeal once gobbled up by mainstream radio. It’s repetitive, simple, catchy and doesn’t require too much thought, and as the rest of Skuggi comes to show later, is the only one of its kind on this album. While ‘Back To Pieces’ seems ready made for radio, the rest of Delicia Mini’s songs do not follow in it’s footsteps; not fast paced, easily consumed doses of catchiness, but complex and confusing tracks that move at a slow and ominous pace and increase in appeal with each listen.

A mix of country, blues, folk, rock, the bizarre, a little bit of imagination, and blend of instruments that could be incompatible if attempted by any other band, gel together in a way that shows Delicia Mini as worthy. While ‘Back To Pieces’ is the most radio friendly track it isn’t until the rest of Skuggi that the music destined for this band is heard; scattered, jittery structured mixes where the songs are complicated, moving, and enjoyable. In ‘Pull The Trees Down’ slow country-like guitars flex and twist at a slow and seductive pace, the tone changing considerably from the catchy upbeat pop mix of ‘Back To Pieces’. Singer Kristjan Eggertsson’s Icelandic accent is a little more obvious here, adding an extra sound to the music, and moving away from the American like accent that painfully stuck out in the first track.

In ‘Gluggi’ swirling organ and a transmittable drum beat mingle together to not only alter the tone and style of music that was there in ‘Pull The Trees Down’, but to also create an alluring mix that exudes the talent of each of the four band members. Eggertsson sings in his natural Icelandic tongue, and this works in a surprisingly likeable way with English audio that occasionally shows itself in the track – a blend of his unfamiliar foreign language and words that can be understood: “A lot of people, they are something less than human.” There is no rashness in the music of Delicia Mini, the tracks that follow imparting a sense of deep consideration as to how each speck of sound could have been pieced together.

In Skuggi, Delicia Mini continuously switches to and from various musical genres and styles to produce a collection of compatible incompatibilities. Sounds work when they shouldn’t, songs work when they shouldn’t, and this is due to the musical ambitions of the band, who never find a comfort zone, alternating between different musical styles in a delightful way. It’s a collection of tracks that although at first may be hard to take in, understand, or get used to, wins over due to not only it’s flexibility, but also because of the talent of Delicia Mini who, like the instrument, eventually win over.