FM Belfast
How to make friends
Kimi
FM Belfast's debut full-length "How to make friends" is a breathless up-yours to any expectation of the (near) cliché ethereal Icelandic sound. Concerning themselves, not with glacially moving soundscapes, but with pulsating dance floors, the Reykjavík quartet stomp though eleven tracks with a dedication to disco-fueled outlandish fun that's likely to make Scissor Sisters jealous. In the case of tracks such as "Par avion", "Underwear", and "VHS", their horn and drum machine-backed high-octane determination goes down with a delicious hook and subversive wink.
However, FM Belfast refuses to simply rest on their outsider status -- piling on layer after layer off-kilter synth, pushing askew melodies a bit further off-center. By album mid-point, their more-is-more approach to quirk grows wearing, dragging down what could undoubtedly have been classic nü-disco cuts. Instead of answering our burning questions -- namely, does the world really need another cover of Technotronic's "Pump"? -- tracks "Synthia" and "President" close out the album with shouting, odd layers, and the world's most awkward rap. Probably not the best way to make friends, but I'm willing to give this relationship a second try if you are.
- Laura Studarus
