[Introducing] – Edda Magnason

It’s easy to overlook how incredible it is to be able to write even one single – they’re called one-hit wonders for a reason. So it was a real surprise to me when I heard two clear winners from Edda Magnason, whose 2011 album “Goods” slipped right under the radar.

Magnason calls Sweden home, but has Icelandic roots, which may immediately bring up some associations that are none too shabby. The deliciously bright “Blondie” made me recall Joanna Newsom and Emiliani Torrini, as well as LBYB fave Alex Winston, but Magnason’s voice is hers alone: whimsical, spontaneous. The delicacy and power of her instrument lends itself to the playfulness of her songwriting. Is that a string section? Is that a sitar? A live drummer? And “a choir of Russian sailors” (what will they think of next!)? Sweet, sweet, sweet, the confectioner’s kiss of another Swedish group, The Concretes. Listening through the entire album, I sometimes get the sense that some songs were made in an instant, Magnason sitting down and doing it in one take, like on the closer “Jormine”. I am not implying a lack of care; quite the contrary, I want to bring attention to just how well this woman knows her craft.

“Handsome” is the second single and, like “Blondie”, has an immediacy that pops. Most interesting though, are the songs in between the “hits” and here is where I see a comparison to songbird extraordinaire Kate Bush, particularly “Hounds Of Love”. Both records share music that is equally strange, unusual, infectious, pop and oddly accessible – which may not make the most consistent listening, but makes up for in a beautiful atmosphere, a whole other world that you are drawn into and therefore become more open to exploring. Magnason is both cabaret and folk, accessible and experimental. She is at work and at play with seemingly careful production, but also a lucky coincidence all at once. Pianos arranged in ways you never hear, layered vocals, zany effects that sound as if Magnason is sitting in a room surrounded by the biggest collection of children’s toys you’d ever laid eyes on.

Below you can listen to allllll of Ms. Magnason’s “Goods”, as well as watch her looking cute in glasses in the video for the delectable “Blondie”.

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