While not quite as innovative as their Nordic neighbors Sigur Rós and Björk, Efterklang taps into the Icelandic sound with electronic beats, moving orchestral backgrounds, and dreamy vocal melodies.
For Magic Chairs, the Danish chamber pop ensemble's third album and 4AD debut, the approach is refined a bit.
Recording for the first time outside of their home studio, the band tracked the basic drum, guitar, bass, and vocal parts outright, before returning to Copenhagen to add string and brass flourishes, courtesy of 17 accompanying musicians.
While this may sound overblown, it's actually a step back from 2004’s Tripper, which featured twice as many guests, or 2007's Parades, which showcased a grand total of three choirs.
Even with its massive production, Magic Chairs surprises by never feeling overly bloated.
The arrangements accent and enhance appropriately, ebbing and flowing along with Casper Clausen’s passionate lead vocals.
Opening anthem "Modern Drift" is the standout single, with its exultant “I can’t keep my head inside” chorus, but as dense as the album is, there’s an endless number of other patchworked sonic ideas to latch onto, digital and otherwise.
Fans of Menomena, Elbow, and Grizzly Bear should definitely look into this.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Modern DriftMads Brauer, Casper Clausen, Rune Fonseca Mølgaard | Efterklang | Play | 04:55 | 11 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | AlikeMads Brauer, Casper Clausen | Efterklang | Play | 04:13 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | I Was Playing DrumsMads Brauer, Casper Clausen | Efterklang | Play | 05:15 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | RaincoatsMads Brauer, Casper Clausen | Efterklang | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | HarmonicsMads Brauer, Casper Clausen | Efterklang | Play | 04:22 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Full MoonMads Brauer, Casper Clausen | Efterklang | Play | 03:51 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | The Soft BeatingMads Brauer, Casper Clausen | Efterklang | Play | 04:15 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Scandinavian LoveMads Brauer, Casper Clausen | Efterklang | Play | 03:55 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | Mirror MirrorMads Brauer, Casper Clausen, Rune Fonseca Mølgaard | Efterklang | Play | 05:46 | 13 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Natural TuneMads Brauer, Casper Clausen | Efterklang | Play | 03:26 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 44 mins | 101 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patricia Mia Andersen | Guest Artist, Strings, Violin |
| 2 | Anders Boll | Engineer |
| 3 | Mads Brauer | Arranger, Composer, Engineer, Group Member, Producer, String Engineer |
| 4 | Peter Broderick | Guest Artist, Guitar, Piano, Violin, Vocals (Background) |
| 5 | Brian Buchard | Photography |
| 6 | Greg Calbi | Mastering |
| 7 | Ettore Causa | Guest Artist, Strings, Viola |
| 8 | Casper Clausen | Arranger, Composer, Group Member, Lyricist, Producer |
| 9 | Efterklang | Primary Artist |
| 10 | Christian Ellegaard | Guest Artist, Strings, Violin |
| 11 | Katrine Muff Enevoldsen | Guest Artist, Vocals (Background) |
| 12 | Heather Woods Broderick | Flute, Guest Artist, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 13 | Erik Heide | Guest Artist, Strings, Violin |
| 14 | Thomas Husmer | Group Member |
| 15 | Jakob Johansen | Brass, Guest Artist, Trombone (Bass) |
| 16 | Gareth Jones | Mixing |
| 17 | Rune Fonseca Mølgaard | Composer, Guest Artist, Piano |
| 18 | Daniel Smith Nielsen | Guest Artist, Whistle (Human) |
| 19 | Niklas Antonson | Brass, Guest Artist, Trombone |
| 20 | Petter Samuelsson | String Engineer |
| 21 | Jonathan Slaatto | Cello, Guest Artist, Strings |
| 22 | Rasmus Stolberg | Group Member |
| 23 | Frederik Teige | Guest Artist, Guitar, Vocals (Background) |
| 24 | Bolette Thurøe | Guest Artist, Strings, Violin |
| 25 | Jonas Tranberg | Engineer |
| 26 | Kasper Tranberg | Brass, Guest Artist, Trumpet |
| 27 | Katinka Fogh Vindelev | Guest Artist, Vocals (Background) |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |