Album Review: While the Fire Dies (EP) by Seabear
March 15th, 2010 • Album Review, Folk, Iceland
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- Seabear at Iceland Airwaves 2008
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- “While the Fire Dies (EP)” by Seabear
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- Seabear
Let’s make one thing clear here, Iceland’s Seabear is without a doubt one of my favorite bands of all time. Their succinct anti-folk sensibility is unique even within the confines of the seemingly overcrowded world of the folk revival that is currently still in its indie infancy.
From the time that I first played their 2007 debut, The Ghost that Carried Us Away, my love of Seabear, as my friends might tell you had bordered on insanity and irrationality, but its all in good fun.
Alongside their recent full-length release (a very good album, by the way), We Built a Fire, the band chose to also put together a brief EP called The Fire Dies Out. The two records seem similar at the core, obviously the instrumentation is basically the same, but the EP is, truthfully an experience unto itself.
The band compiled the disc with what would amount to their more folksy offerings and the slower pace and tempo of the album and favor for banjo over trumpet are emblematic of the shift. I am particularly in love with the remixes they produced to two of their earlier songs, Singing Arc and Arms, which are in my opinion better than the originals.
The point here is that with this EP is an excellent working of their music both new and old, and if you are planning to get into Seabear, make sure to include this short EP into your listening plans.
-Doug Ray
Doug Ray is the co-host of Saltimbocca and Escargot, Sundays 8-10 PM on WRBC.