When Einar Örn (who sang in the Sugarcubes with Björk) started bringing English post-punk records to Iceland in the early 1980s, he triggered an Icelandic fascination with the sound that has reverberated through the nation’s music. Three and a half decades on, his son Kaktus Einarsson is continuing the trend in Fufanu with Gulli Einarsson (no relation). The duo (who have now expanded to a quintet) certainly bear all the hallmarks of English post-punk bands, especially Joy Division and Bauhaus.
However, by moving further towards that style from their earlier techno roots, they’ve hit on a Fufanu sound: huge and bleak, but with nimble rhythmic undercurrents and walls of glacial electronics. Einarsson – something of an Icelandic Ian Curtis – has the perfect voice for this music: stark, imposing and omnipresent. The likes of Blinking and Circus Life – about employment drudgery – rage and brood but have darkly, powerfully catchy tunes. With much current pop eager to please, it’s thrilling to hear music played with such malevolence.
