The most unruly Icelandic punk band, GRÓA, is back with a new album, Drop P.
Drop P is a fun, creative album that fully embraces the DIY spirit and the joy of making music with your friends. This energy comes through in the usage of unexpected instruments, some more silly and personal lyrics, and the way things seem to flow into a stream of consciousness. Nothing is too overwhelmingly serious, but it also doesn’t feel thrown together.
Sisters Karólína (vocal, synthesis, guitar) and Hrafnhildur Einars Maríudóttir (drums, perc) and their childhood friend Fríða Björg Pétursdóttir (bass) got together in Reykjavík and partly in a house 40 minutes from Akureyri to write this eclectic album.
The entire thing is very bass-forward. It’s heavy and leads things throughout the album. There is also an array of unconventional instruments that make an appearance, including 8 recorders, 8 guitars, 4 pianos, trumpet, saxophones, bells and glockenspiels. Despite the often clashing and chaotic sounds, the album is very good at stringing all the songs into a cohesive sound.
Opening with ‘birdshit’ GRÓA laments the karmic justice of eating too much chicken and eventually having a bird shit on you in cosmic revenge. It sets a perfect tone for the album because it’s silly, it’s pretty with the birdsong and nature sounds throughout, and it still has a heaviness that seems to appear in every track after.
‘ugh’ may be my favorite on the album. The recorders gave me flashbacks to middle school music classes. The song itself has this delightful buildup before hitting a crazy tone shift that takes it from comical to this heavy, dredging sensation. The music video is a wet mess in a white room with a mini viewer of geysers that somehow perfectly matches the mood. The way it feels like a slough and like an explosion at the same time.
Next is their most relatable song, ‘screwdriver’, which has the unexpected optimism in a bad situation tone. Yeah, you locked yourself out, but hey, you have a screwdriver and a dream, it’ll work out. Things aren’t so bad.
‘beauty tips!’, which features blanco teta from Buenos Aires, is a little haunting with creaking strings, whispered lyrics, and a slower energy than the rest of the album.
An ode to the famed drink ‘cranberry’ is a goofy ditty praising the long-held belief that cranberry juice has…rather valuable health benefits. Unafraid of laughing at themselves, the band openly explains the thought behind the song.
“It’s about how you drop your P.”
Listeners are transported on an adventure with ‘eldingar í prag’, which is about a surreal overnight drive from Slovakia to Prague through a thunderstorm, involving frogs, cats, snakes, a wolf, and a man with a gun. The way it opens with what sounds like the way a group of friends sings in the car during a road trip before transforming into this scary, dark sound and the repeated lyrics asking “what’s up with that feeling” as things become increasingly more unsettling. Like the gut sensation that something is deeply wrong.
‘allt sem er gott er gott’ has a sweet jazz feel to it, the vocals are muffled beneath the sound, hushed and private, but no less impactful. Comforting in a strange way, as it breaks from the high of the rest of the album.
‘drekk ekki kekki’ is interesting with its pitchy vocals, repetitive lyrics, and the almost looping instrumentals. It’s trancelike and interesting, with possibly the least amount of extra instruments or effects.
The finale of the album ‘kim’ is cheer-like in its lyrics but possibly the album with the most story behind it. Interestingly, the first song written for the album, the band explains:
“[It’s about] Feeling stuck. In the end you want to do something about it, and you want to do something about everything you hate and everything that is unjust, you want to do something, and you feel positive about your ability to change things for the better. The lyrics tell a surreal story about a girl that goes faster than light and can’t stop spinning down hills, spinning in circles, taking backflips but then she hits a big gray brick wall and is forced to slow down. In the last 2 minutes, or so, of the song, the whole album wraps into a parade with people and other species walking together in the direction towards the world of snouge.”
The cheerfulness of the parade at the end feels like a perfect finale. With everything said and done, it puts a tidy bow on what is a fun adventure. Everyone is moving as one into the world of Drop P after this long, slightly absurd, and entertaining journey
Stream Drop P on Spotify.
Upcoming Live dates
22.06 – Avantgardefestival, Schiphorst (DE)
26.06 – Neue Zukunft – Small Room, Berlin (DE)
27.06 – Fusion Festival, Lärz (DE)
28.06 – Festpillene i Nord-Norge, Harstad (NO)
30.06 – Roskilde Festival, Roskilde (DK)
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