Inki has been making waves in her native Iceland and her new album Thoughts Midsentence may well be her international breakthrough.
By Graeme Smith
Feature photo by Olivia Synnervik
Originally featuring on our blog last year through her single This One For Me, we’ve been keeping a keen eye on Inki, the solo project of composer Ingibjörg Friðriksdóttir. At the time, I mentioned that the track was one half of a story, and we get the second half through For You, a track featuring on her new album Thoughts Midsentence.
Broadly classed as alternative pop, Inki has an experimental sound that makes the genre description feel wholly inadequate. Following in the footsteps of trailblazing compatriots like Bjork, she’s covering new ground herself, and on her new album we get an irreverent collection that is as playful as it is thoughtful.
Inki describes the process of creating the album like interrupting your own stories, hence the name – Thoughts Midsentence. Each of its ten tracks ended up quite different from where they started, yet she manages to keep them coherent for the listener.
The album opens with its title track and we are instantly awash in a rich and unexpected electronic world. Snatches of vocals are paired with some pulsating percussion before an urgent groove arrives. At its pinnacle, it gives way to a contemplative melody played on keys, and we are left wondering just where the album will take us next.
The answer is: all sort of places. Destructive Interference is a dark and moody follow up. Silverlight envelops us with some distorted jazz and image-laden lyrics. The aforementioned For You rounds off the album’s early listening with a gentle instrumental before pouring into memorable highlight This One For Me.
Barefoot on the Dancefloor sits at the heart of the album giving us a lively and emotional dance track. Playing With Fire is sultry and simmering, Svífa, longing and soulful. Do I Wanna Know? is a surprise take on the Arctic Monkeys classic. Without You closes the album with a delicate and expansive farewell.
Keep an eye on our podcast for a specially recorded interview with Inki where we talk more about the album, arriving soon.
Thoughts Midsentence is out now and you can check it out below.
