Yndi
Halda’s debut full-length, Enjoy Eternal Bliss,
unfolds through four tracks that clock in at a little more than
an hour. This is expansive, epic instrumental music with varied
sections and movements that rise to crescendo out of subtle, gentle
ambience. Melodies ebb and flow, rising to beautiful explosions.
It's the kind of music that could
soundtrack a modern day love story as easily as it could a mid-century
war. A barrage of instrumentation is woven together to form the
fabric of this music, with soaring violins and whispering glockenspiels,
melodies of clarinets and banjos, and driving guitars and bass supported
by a military-like percussion sound. With one beautiful soundscape
after another, Yndi Halda create something bigger
than an emotional rollercoaster. It's more like a full-on mountain
assault through thick blizzards and incredible sunshine.
Yndi Halda is the first foreign band on the Burnt
Toast Vinyl roster. The band hails from a small fishing village
called Kingsdown in the most southeastern tip of the UK and is made
up of five friends who met in grammar school in their early youth.
They began to form various types of bands in their teenage years,
solidifying as Yndi Halda when they
were 16 and 17 (the band members now range in age from 20 to 21).
The band was discovered by the label when they were voted number
two on the top 50 instrumental albums of 2005 by Decoymusic.com,
ahead of such bands as Sigur Ros, Explosions In the Sky, Pelican,
Mono, and more. Yndi Halda is Old Norse for "enjoy
eternal bliss", taken from the Eddic epic poem "Hrafnagaldur
Ó<eth>ins", and the title of their debut album.
The album is accompanied by etchings from a local artist friend
who depicts scenes from the quiet English fishing town Yndi
Halda claim as their home. The influence of place on Yndi
Halda's sound is significant, with the band writing songs and practicing
in a barn on the top of a hill in their small village in the midst
of rolling hills, valleys, and
the crashing waves of the nearby sea.
Enjoy Eternal
Bliss features deluxe packaging with cardboard origami covers
assembled with no glue, with both the covers and booklets printed
on 100% recycled paper with vegetable based inks. The deluxe vinyl
version of Enjoy Eternal Bliss is a double LP, with the
booklets printed on 100% recycled paper with vegetable based inks.
Enjoy Eternal Bliss is a very international album being
released in North America, Europe, Japan,Taiwan, and South Korea
simultaneously. Yndi Halda have already toured in the UK twice and
are planning more extensive European, American, and Asian tours.
“Already a stunning live act, Enjoy Eternal Bliss
confirms this five-piece’s position as Britain’s finest
on-record purveyors of modern instrumental rock music. Promulgate
from the tallest peaks: Yndi Halda, here, exhibit talent enough
to eclipse the post-millennium efforts of any of their peers. (9/10)”
Mike Diver, Drowned In Sound
“I have no doubt that your attention will never depart from
the sonic assault of musical brilliance [of Yndi Halda]”
James Schultz, Underground Review
"beautiful
shimmering post-rock that gives Sigur Ros a run for their money...expect
big things." Darren Taylor, Rock Sound
"that they're already greatly impressive is a fact humbled,
rather, by the obvious certainty that they've the potential to one
day be peerless." Mike Diver, Drowned In Sound
"yndi halda create a wonderful forty-five
minutes of music, spread across three monolithic tracks. Each track
is utterly beautiful" Jordan Volz, decoymusic.com
"simply jawdropping...noise swept beauty" UK Experimental
Bands, Artist of the Week.
"Remember that time you listened to that Sigur Ros song and
it reminded you of your saddest memory ever?...amazing...the whole
thing is just dripping with emotion." Mike Freitag, Realife
Radio
"pure beauty" John Barnes, Disconnected Press
"transcends the normal limitations of music" decoymusic.com
"This is what I mean by an emotional intelligence" Mountain7
"the future is looking more than bright for this eclectic group
of post rock gentlemen" Underdogzine
"Closing song, the frantic and taut, "Illuminate My Heart,
Darling", is quite simply jaw-dropping" Michael Henaghan,
boringmachines
"Haunting, halting, stunning, beautiful, utterly emotional
and overwhelming in all its power and promise...at times it's dread
quiet, at others it feels like the world is caving in" Simon
Diplock, Moderate Rock Reviews
"the most dazzling climaxes in recent musical history. this
will saw into you with the visceral precision of a surgeon's blade."
Kaveh Akbar, The Quirk
"long songs and sophisticated song progression...incorporating
instruments with pure sound like violins and glockenspiels in beautifully
layers" Kaori Shutuo, CDJournal (Japan)
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