Miðstöðin is a music school in Iceland that not only teaches music but brings together talented musicians. That’s as far as I got from the reference material, not speaking Icelandic. I know this much at least, because a band that goes by the name Karma Brigade is a product of that school’s resource pooling. Given only the small sample size that is Karma Brigade, I could widely speculate that it must be one heck of a school, because this band is comprised of some very talented and young individuals. Of course, it is a small sample size so that would be wild speculation. Even the school themselves acknowledged that once they put these “unique individuals” together, something “magical” happened.
Their latest single, “Alive” is an extraordinarily captivating song. It expresses a sentiment that we take for granted all too often: simply taking it all in and appreciating the beauty and mindfulness of “now.” Not what upset you yesterday, not the anxiety of what could happen tomorrow, but the intrinsic synergy of appreciating this beautiful moment… now. Sometimes “now” sticks out like a sore thumb. We have this tendency to only notice it when things don’t suit us. Only as annoyance, anger, frustration, all these things occur. But how many wonderful “now’s” do we gloss over and let pass by leading up to those moments of conflict or constraint? That is the very essence of this single, which is the first to be released from an up-and-coming album entitled, “These Are the Good Old Days.” Have a listen.
The band has been releasing music since 2019 beginning with their debut single “Nova Pesma.” This single is the initial follow-up since their fantastic, ambient, alt-pop debut full-length album, “States of Mind” was released a year ago October 2021. An album that the band was able to successfully fundraise enough money for to finance. Indeed, their talents are something remarkable enough to make quite an impression. For example, if you check out their YouTube channel you will find that most, if not all the members, appear to be multi-instrumentalists moving around to different instrumentations song to song. They also all share a sizable share of the vocal duties. Regardless of who plays what instrument or who sings what part of the arrangement, it’s like when these five enter a room together, music just happens.
Accompanying the release of the single on streaming services, the band has also produced a music video for the single. From a videography standpoint, it does a great job of capturing the band’s live performance aesthetic and energy. Not to mention, a beautiful Icelandic scenery makes for a great video too. Shot in front of one of the most iconic Icelandic mountain ranges, Esjan, the backdrop is just stunning. Lock in step with what I was commenting before about multi-talented individuals that comprise the band, it appears that in this song the drummer might be taking on lead vocal roles? As with most of their songs, the entire band “ensembles” throughout, but it looked like during the verses it was the drummer taking lead this time. Again, they seem to all alternate and no matter who is doing what, the outcome is always a superb performance. Looking forward to what’s in store for the new album.
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This coverage was created via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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