It's been way too long since we last wrote about Máni Orrason, the young Icelandic songwriter who's made such an impression ever since he released his debut single way back in October 2014, despite being unfortunate enough to be featured in a brand new music blog called Nordic Music Review not long after. How we have survived the intervening 4 years is somewhat of a mystery, but Máni Orrason is just blessed with the most natural of music writing talents (ok I'm sure he works really hard at it too...) that it is no surprise that both his albums have been so well received, and why he is appearing again at the Iceland Airwaves event this weekend.
We wrote extensively about his debut album 'Repeating Patterns', but with typical inconsistency managed to miss his 2nd album 'I Woke Up Waiting' which he released in the Spring. I've been listening again this afternoon, and it's such a good set of songs, all written in his distinct style - please check it out if you have chance. Anyway he has a new song out, ahead of a forthcoming EP launch, and it's called Picture I Recal - released last week by Fries Boom Barrier / Guesstimate. For this song Máni Orrason goes back and questions the portrayal of himself, and indeed reflects on that early song-writing, and for sure his style has developed since then, but his character and personality still always shines through, and 'Picture I Recall' is a lovely laid back melodic track with an engaging and always subtle synth pop accompaniment.
Take a listen to it here, it's produced by Nikolai Potthoff:
We'll try and write a few words on the new Máni Orrason EP when it's formally released.