Benni Hemm Hemm
Fri., July 27, 9:30 p.m., with Get Him Eat Him and Except after Sea, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave.
icelandic rock/pop
;)
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Without understanding a word Benedikt H. Hermannsson sings over his big Icelandic band (oh, those horns), you sense his music, all repeating syllables over swelling instrumentation, is about simple pleasures: a windy hill, snow, the taste of rain. But give Benni Hemm Hemm's latest, Kajak (Morr Music), a listen and you'll find it hard to shake the eeriness creeping from their melancholy lullabies. There's the ship saved by the lighthouse that returns to shore with a ghost ("Sex ea Sjö [Six or Seven])". The boy who digs a hole, fills it with water and sails away ("Ég á Bát" ["I Have a Boat"]). Or the upbeat "Mónakó," a triptych of places the singer has died. It's all gorgeous and the slightest bit alien — just like Iceland.
Fri., July 27, 9:30 p.m., $10, with Get Him Eat Him and Except after Sea, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 866-468-7619, www.johnnybrendas.com.
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