We Sink

Branching out from the Icelandic indie-folk sextet Seabear, Sóley has released a solo album that balances organic tones and low fidelity with innovative production and cleverly crafted avant-pop. We Sink starts with “I’ll Drown,” a hauntingly pretty lullaby where wooden percussion loops under lilting piano. Over this, Sóley’s double-tracked vocals hit a mysterious intonation that falls somewhere between Björk and Graham Nash. Nylon-string acoustic guitar tones open the following “Smashed Birds,” where Sóley sings wistfully as shuffled rhythms (played with brushes on a snare drum) and the quiet drones of an old organ slowly seep in. In “Bad Dream,” the murky production makes it sound like Sóley’s voice is piping in from the paper speakers of an old wooden radio—though it’s her self-sung harmonies in minor chords that give the song an elegant melancholy. The disturbingly titled “Kill the Clown” is even more eerie. Here, antiquated piano notes are accompanied by what sounds like a warbling theremin and twisted violin, which come together to give the song an unsettling vibe.