Words by Wim Van Hooste
The review was originally printed in Reykjavík On Stage (Issue 1)
If you think about the Icelandic trip-hop scene, Worm Is Green is a name that comes immediately to mind. Hailing from Akranes and formed in 2002, Worm Is Green is still around in the ground. The band was responsible for Automagic (Thule, 2003), Push Play (Mikrolux, 2007), Glow (Kilk Records, 2012), To them we are only shadows (ata:digital, 2014), Loops, Cuts and Lost Clues Vol. 1 (ata:empire, 2016), and numerous EPs and singles in the past. Who needs a trip to Bristol, if you can drive to Akranes through the tunnel made by Worm Is Green?!
Loop, Cuts and Lost Clues Vol. 2: One could say ‘more the best of the rest’. DVD lovers would call it “The Extras”. Anyhow, Worm Is Green offers a look inside the kitchen of quartet Árni, Bjarni, Steini and Guðríður. The Volume 2 of their Loops, Cuts & Lost Clues collection includes tracks, which are ideas, demos and loops created the past 15 years.
Opener ‘Hugmynd’ is driven by a prominent loop and minimal synthesizer outro. The second track, ‘The birds’, has a present loop as well and could be on the soundtrack of a Hitchcock movie. Song III ‘Automagic’ is an uptempo and uplifting track. The next one, ‘Minimal’, is a track with a crackle. ‘Reverse it’ was the first song recorded back in 2001 by Árni & Guðríður. Piano-driven song, ‘The Ocean’, crashes on the south coast shore. Goddess Guðríður is on the mountaintop in ‘You’: she’s got it. Song VIII, ‘Sunday Session’, is as sacral as the cathedral in Santiago de Compostella. Early in the morning on the road with Guðríður to enjoy a ‘Brand new day’. Final one, ‘Electronic Mail’, is the longest track. It’s like jumping on a steamy train while Sergio Leone introduces his lonesome unlucky Lukes.
This album takes you on a hypnotizing triphop trip from cement city Akranes to the Norwegian woods of Voss. Loops, Cuts and Lost Clues Vol. 2 demonstrates that with leftovers you can cook a delicious dinner in the music kitchen. Worm Is Green brings a murmuring, meandering or mesmerizing mix of melancholic music. Don’t loop back in anger, with the cutting crew Worm Is Green.
Worm Is Green – Loops, Cuts and Lost Clues Vol. 2
01 Hugmynd
02 The Brids
03 Automagic
04 Minimal
05 Reverse it
06 The Ocean
07 You
08 Sunday Session
09 Brand new day
10 Electronic Mail
