Soley
Endless Summer
(Morr Music)
3 stars
ACCORDING to the 30-year-old Icelandic singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Soley Stefansdottir, her third album came out of a note she wrote to herself when she woke up in the middle of the night.
“Write about hope and spring,” it said. She then bought a grand piano, painted her studio yellow and purple and started work on the record.
Influenced by the long Icelandic winters, the piano-led songs create a warm, often delicate atmosphere with their dreamlike instrumentation, including restrained orchestral sweeps and swoons.
The wonderful weirdness of fellow nationals Sigur Ros and Bjork seem to be key touchstones, as does the fantastical voice of US singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom on songs like opener Ia, named after Soley’s young daughter.
Though somewhat slight at around 30 minutes long, it’s an impressive album of rebirth and nourishment of the soul.

Fleet Foxes
Crack-Up
(Nonesuch Records)
4 stars