Lifelines

Caught somewhere in the ether between Nashville, Tennessee, where he’s now based, and Reykjavík in his native Iceland, Davidsson’s debut long-player Lifelines occupies and illuminates a world of enigmatic emotions and intriguing atmospheres all its own. To claim he’s a Scandinavian Ryuichi Sakamoto risks overstating the case on this first outing. More apposite a comparison is Ry Cooder in Paris, Texas mood. Inspired by the loss of his father, it’s a deeply personal, intimate offering bordering occasionally on the unsettlingly voyeuristic. Davidsson’s shape-shifting harmonica and keening pedal steel guitar and chiming mandolin provide the primary colours for this tender and thoughtful reverie. Other eloquent, equally telling hues in this suite of exposed emotions come from Skúli Sverrisson’s bass guitars and Davíð Þór Jónsson’s piano, organ and banjo. Lead single ‘On Thin Air’ is as beguilingly fragile as ‘Stride’ is percussively unsettling and ‘Draumur’ cinematically confessional. One to dive into and surrender to its depths.