Jakobinarina
The First Crusade (Regal)
Jakobinarina are apparently Icelandic teenagers, but their sound defies anything imagined from the tag “Icelandic teenager”. This is punk rock that could conceivably have been made by those who were there first time round. Confident and unfaltering, this album is one of those produced when frustration with small towns and modern living reaches boiling point and results in focussed, creative anger. Yes, it’s been done before but the songs here are so energetic and assured that they add up to an immensely likeable whole.
The withering and astute lyrics hold a huge part of the appeal; on ‘Jesus’ they deliver the lines, “Jump around to the sound of mediocrity” and “some people are just destined for desk jobs and desk jobs only”. Final track ‘Spit Me in the Eye’, the most loosely-structured song here, has a rough-around-the-edges quality that hints at a band with plenty of scope to expand creatively; vocalist Gunnar sneers, “I think I’ll cope” over and over as the album comes to a close, and it’s convincing as a statement of intent.
Lorraine Douglas
