So much time didn't go by. And quick it was, too. Not only the sounds and texts for Benni Hemm Hemm's second album »Kajak« were written within a few, concentrated weeks. The recordings in Sundlaugin, the studio of Sigur Rós, were also done within only four days. During four magical days eleven musicians recorded thirteen vibrating tracks. With kettledrums and trumpets, with guitars, trombones and a glockenspiel. Emotionally, energetically, emphatically. An insistent shining. Warm and visible already from a distance.
Although, Benni Hemm Hemm ought to have all time in the world for his second album. Or, at least, quite a while for writing and recording it. He still is 26 years young. And his self-titled debut-album – that was elected as best album of the year 2005 – is not even two years old. Recently, in summer 2006, it has been released for the rest of the world, on Sound Of A Handshake, Morr Music's small, curious sister. But probably »Kajak« couldn't wait any longer. According to the pulsating way they come out of the loudspeakers theses songs wanted to be told.
Still on board: the emphatic wind section of Northern Soul, the whirling enthusiasm of dance music becoming out of joint. What is new on »Kajak« that is a dramaturgical balance, a giving and taking, also and especially among single tracks. With »Kajak«, Benedik H. Hermannsson, the passionate narrator and cunning entertainer, became a well-versed arranger, as well.
»Sorgartár« is situated close to the ocean. It tells of life by the sea. A surging and swelling, a ride on the wave's crest, constructed of a wind section, organs, one baritone guitar. »Regngalsinn« is an abstract love poem. Birds twitter, everything in the garden is lovely. One could call it almost a power-ballad if power-ballads didn't have such a bad reputation. »Mónakó« presents itself that enigmatic as the principality of the same name. An absurd song with an unfeasible time and three singing-tracks overlapping each other. »Egisa«, finally, is a slow stroll out of the album into the sunshine. The sun is low in the sky and makes us squint.
