September 27, 2007

Jakobinarina: 'The First Crusade'

'Twelve tracks of insanely energetic punk-pop'

8 / 10 When you’re 18 and in a band it’s natural to think you’re in the best band in the world. Not every band, however, makes a debut album that constantly makes said point. That, though, is Jakobínarína – six endearingly arrogant young men from Hafnarfjörur, a town near Reyjavik where town planners still plot roads to avoid rock piles populated by elves. Mind you, listen to ‘The First Crusade’ and you might concede they are – or at least one day might be – correct. Twelve tracks of insanely energetic punk-pop with romping drums, guitars that sound like Johnny Marr being chased by rabid dogs and, in Gunnar Bergmann, a guttural-voiced manchild who sums up teenage life like only one who’s living it now can. “I’ve got nothing to live for,” he moans on ‘Monday I’m In Vain’. Then, brightly: “Except next weekend… for there will be a DANCE REVOLUTION!” Well, quite.

Louis Pattison

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