Young LINDY VOPNFJORD's life story is something you couldn't invent with even the strangest of psychedelics for assistance. Try this for size: born of Scandinavian extraction in Gimli, Manitoba; first public appearance at two singing a duet with his father at the Icelandic Festival in his hometown; spending his formative years singing Icelandic folk songs and '60s protest tunes with his parents and cousins in The Hekla sisters.
In itself, that all sounds unlikely enough, but there are still more twists in the tale: not least the one about Lindy - now a consummate, but still relatively obscure singer/ songwriter auditioning for his Canadian label by playing a full-length acoustic set around the label MD'S kitchen table, enchanting and making said person cry with emotion along the way. Not even the notorious Peter Doherty has managed this feat to the best of my knowledge.
So bearing in mind Lindy's story spins such unlikely webs on intrigue, the last thing you'd expect is for his music to sound workmanlike, and so it proves during the course of this 5-track taster from Lindy's second album "Suspension Of Disbelief", which shows this tall and likeable young chap to be a diverse new talent all round.
And, crucially, a diverse talent with an ear for a good tune or three, as opening track "Beautifully Undone" proves. It's a gentle, plaintive acoustic wisp of a thing with ethereal vocals that's nonetheless anything but insubstantial.
It's a great start and most of what slips through in its' wake reinforces the fact Lindy is an intriguing new name to conjure with. "In The Air" is considerably more upbeat and snags on some memorable, keening slide guitar. It's got undercurrents of both Neil Finn and Paul McCartney and vocally Lindy really lets loose towards the end reminding me of the way the under-rated Chris Mills attacks his most emotional material.
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"Look At The Way The Wind Blows" is grittier again, with an earthier vocal and the occasional Jeff Buckley-ish falsetto flight of fancy. Crucially, though, it doesn't sound contrived when Lindy does it and when allied with dirty, ringing electric guitars, it all works very nicely indeed. "After The Rain Falls" then returns us to the gentle, dreamy landscapes of "Beautifully Undone" and presents us with another love song of some depth. It harbours touches of The Blue Nile, but then surprises by building climactically when you'd given up on it doing so.
The only weak link is the "SB's Spinning Air Mastermix" reshaping of "Beautifully Undone", which brings in subtle breakbeats and does a bit of sonic pointing rather than tearing down of the structure. It's OK, but little more than an exercise in form and merely a diversion in the end.
Nonetheless, it's not a major faux pas and does little to divert you from the fact Lindy Vopnfjord is a name you'd do well to keep in mind in future. Not that you're liable to forget a half-Icelandic Canadian with a penchant for both sublime pop tunes and a sideline in Scandinavian folk laments really, are you?
(www.lindymusic.com)
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