Review Summary: Suit up your coats, its winter time.
Before Seabear released "The Ghost That Carried Us Away," their debut LP with seven members, Seabear was the solo project of Sindri Már Sigfússon. His first EP, "Singing Arc," contains trace amounts of violin, piano, and various other instruments throughout, all through a filter of lo-fi atmosphere. The biggest attribute to this reason is most likely the fact that there is mostly nothing else other than a guitar. Sure, maybe some drums, or any of the other instruments said earlier, but down to the core this is a singer-songwriting EP. It starts off with what sounds to be audio from a home-made video, with a light sound of a piano and chimes in the back, slowly building up. A repeating acoustic line joins in, with another keyboard line that repeats itself as well. This goes on for another 3 minutes and 30 or so seconds, and to be honest, it does sort of over-extend itself a bit, but for the most part, it manages to work as it flows into the next track, "I Need a Home for My Hands and Head."
Sindri has a very calm and gloomy voice. It's introduction is a hush "hmm" in the background and it alternates from a voice sounding far away in your right speaker, to a voice sounding at your doorstep in the left. It sounds dreary and weary, that has been shaped from his homeland, Iceland. This album doesn't carry so many sentiments of Iceland in it as much as say, their LP or Sigur Rós. His voice does best in songs in where he layers his voice multiple times, such as the 3rd track, "Drunk Song." You can hear 3+ layers of voice going along, each humming their own separate tune. It works out especially well during the end of the song when all the layers join, when he is singing, but another layer of voice rises, giving a calm, climatic end to the song while a simple guitar solo busts out and the drums start to make some funky sounds (it sounds like lightly banging the metal side of a snare with some cymbals). This leads up to the instruments; unfortunately there isn't much to expect from them there. But honestly, what would you want from an acoustic-oriented album? All the instruments play simple lines and the voice is supposed to be the focus, and in that regard, the EP does its job.
Not to say that simple instruments is a bad thing though, along with the other songs. The piano adds the depressing feeling that the EP gives off, and the drums usually just come along and go at any point, and sadly they rarely add anything special to the song. Rather than that, there is a few use of woodwinds deployed throughout the album, but perhaps some of the more strange things employed on the album are the tasteful use of hand clapping at the end of the title track. The last track “Leaving Home,” Sindri shows some semi-technical lines in what is a 99% instrumental track (there is some vocals 3:30 in). The song goes in what is a stream-of-consciousness route, where you hear him put instruments down, and then pick up another instrument, playing that, and then putting that instrument down and playing a keyboard line to end the EP. All the inclusions of instruments don't always work wonders too. The strange keyboard line at the end of "Midoti Green" can get rather annoying as it loops on, switching from speaker to speaker, for the ending seconds.
This album really suits the feeling of winter. It feels cold and gloomy, but almost bright and cheery at times. It's perfect music for if you just want to sit and chill out, or if you want to warm up at the fireplace. It's easy on your ears, and a little bit heavy on the heart. So relax, sit back, and enjoy the wee hours of the night. Go outside, play in the snow; but remember, suit up your coats, its winter time.
