Ikons – Ikons

Ikons - Ikons

Variety is a tricky term. I think I can pretty confidently state that our concentration and our patience has slowly eroded in the past decades. This means that apparently we cannot focus on one and the same thing anymore, as long as we once did. We expect, perhaps even subconsciously demand, that something will happen. A film like 1974′s The Conversation would probably bomb horribly today (even though arguably the subject matter is as nu as it was then). The same essentially goes for music, especially in a musical environment which has so changed in the 21st century. When I interviewed  Dayve Hawk of Memory Tapes he said that listeners tend to skim more (not you, obviously), resulting in the need to have a signature sound that people can immediately recognise in orrder to avoid being shooed away in favour of the next one that ticks that box. So in essence, if Bowie had done Station to Station in the current musical environment, people would’ve glanced at it, would say, “hey, this is not Ziggy Stardust and what I like”, and gone to the next artist who did resemble that kind of sound. From this standpoint the new Ikons album, a self-titled one, does raise some interesting questions.

The idea of recognition for example is omnipresent in the album of the Swedes. Every song seems throwback, reminiscent of a certain decade. This recognition, however, is not done in terms of a particular signature sound concerning the band itself, but is from a signature sound of a certain period or genre in a certain time. The album has so much variety in terms of sound and feel that individual songs are more likely to be linked to other movements and bands – it foregoes the concept of Ikons birthing their own distinctive sound.

The first song on the album is ‘Slow Light’, an eight-minute instrumental behemoth that has a harder sounding bass and guitars over which lighter sounds can be heard. It’s a fabulous mixture of a tougher sound, with bursts of contrasting aural sunlight. It took me back to ’80s artists like Romanelli, who also produced the beats juxtaposed with lighter synths.

By the time track four, ‘Imperiet’, arrives, the album’s moved from 80s Italo into the Factory era and namely, Joy Division. Throbbing bass, baritone vocals, a hard sound with some fuzziness to it; every characteristic we now link to that band and to that musical genre is present in the song. Sure, the first track does have its rougher and darker edges, but the juxtaposition with the lighter sounds – sounds out of our current definition of a post-punk sound – make that track sound vastly different from this seemingly Factory-influenced song. Something which might be construed as a problem is that this kind of sound has been done so much by so many bands over the last decade; only the romanticised past suffices.

The other songs on the album similarly defy being grouped together. ‘Guns’, as the name implies, builds on the more Joy Division sound of ‘Imperiet’, with a darker vibe, scorching guitars and less central vocals making it sound pretty rough. ‘Domine’ perhaps is the spoke to which the rest are all hubs. It starts almost ambient-electronic, with the vocals in the background and entirely spoken word – the heavy bass sounds do, however, link it to the somewhat heavier outings on the album.

‘Hawk’, like ‘Guns’, is a rougher and harder-sounding instrumental piece. ‘Seconds’, like the first track, mixes the somewhat heavier sounds with occasional light synths.  ‘Bye’ sounds like Crystal Stilts with its fuzziness and distorted vocals. The first and last track without a name, ‘Untitled’, closes the album on a sort of ambient note.

The question remains, to steal a line from the Jarvis’ BBC6 Radio show: “are they any good?” The variety they show indicates their musicianship, but to make a cohesive album they need to distill and mix their qualities, and add precision. If there’s any consistency on this album it’s the heavy bass, but the way this consistent element is utilised is indicative of this album. In this ‘Slow Light’ it’s a sort of hypnotic beat, but in ‘Imperiet’ it’s by way of that much-emulated Peter Hook bass sound. I do like the variety, and I do like, for example, the mixture of something like ‘Slow Light’ with ‘Domine’, the spoken word one. Though vastly different, they do seem to connect with one another.

Songs evoke a plethora genres to be picked and chosen from as favourites, inevitably meaning that there’ll be elements and songs to become anachronistic about. I see two people talking about Ikons and saying, “oh yeah, I love that one sounding a bit like such and such”, instead of them saying, “I love Ikons, period.” Though on the plus side I think a lot of people will be able to find a track on this they think is very well done, so if only to add to a playlist for shuffle purposes this might prove to be a fruitful listen.

No related posts.