“It was unheralded jubilance; beautiful, incisive music that pulsated each nerve to climax. I was thoroughly blown away.”
Drowned in Sound – Live review
Benni Hemm Hemm – Kajak ****
“… Það má því segja að Kajak sé rangnefni; Benni Hemm Hemm er á þvílíkri siglingu að nær væri að tala um frystitogara.”
- Morgunblaðið
Pitchforkmedia Review
Benni Hemm Hemm
“I Can Love You In A Wheelchair Baby”
[2006]
On first listen it’s the kindest statement of devotion: “I can love you in a wheelchair, baby/ I can love you any way you want.” Listen to the next two lines though: “I can love you anywhere you want me to/ I can do it anytime.” Iceland’s Benni Hemm Hemm– fronted by Benedikt H. Hermannsson– isn’t professing so much as flossing (not Flössin). This is active, vigorous love here, not platonic platitude. Take out your Nerve daily positions deck and count the sitting positions– at least some of them must use a chair, rocking or stationary. Benni can do it, he says, “anytime.” How do we know? For starters, he deadpans these four lines continuously over the songs acoustic strum and mid tempo beat. He is serious. How do we really know? Hermannsson’s slack-jawed “ohhhh”s on the chorus glide so lazily he could have been checking his fingernails for dirt while singing it. A well-placed horn line is the only thing that separates the chorus from the verse, but Hermannsson couldn’t be bothered to make them any more different. He’s just too laid back, too confident. I mean, he takes his sex sitting down.
Pitchfork Media Track Review
Benni úr Rúnkinu hefur gefið út magnaða plötu.
Lúðrasveita-öðlingspopprokk a la Belle & Sebastian og
svei mér þá bara ein besta íslenska plata ársins.
Smákökurnar gefa út og hér er öruggur hittari, Ég get
elskað þig í hjólastól vinan.
- Dr. Gunni
Worth six beers. Costs four. Winner.
Benni Hemm Hemm plays chords on an acoustic guitar,
and has an enormous brass band, a Led
Zeppelin-inspired drummer, and a solid bassist
essentially echoing him. The result, as Benni repeats
a chord structure and the music layers, is an
energetic feel-good take on folk. No particular
melodies or chord progressions stand out, at the key
is in the repetition. And unlike the Flaming Lips, who
used a similar format in Soft Bulletin, Benni’s lyrics
aren’t entirely poignant, and his voice, while solid,
isn’t all that evocative. Often, you wait for the
trumpet and full band, and often this is worth the
wait. However, when Benni delivers silly or cynical
lyrics, he really shines, as on the song I Can Love
You in a Wheelchair, Baby. This album is complete and
engaging, and if not every melody or lyric sticks in
your head on the initial listen, worry not—you’ll be
listening to it so much, that every word will lodge in
there.
- Grapevine
When Benni Hemm Hemm was booked we didn’t realize that
it was on Culture Night. We didn’t know either that
the sun would be shining and that the garden by Sirkus
would be crowded. We also didn’t realize how much
Icelanders had fallen in love with Benni’s heavily
orchestrated take on country pop.
Throwing in a cover of Elvis and renowned (and
deceased) singer Haukur Morthens’ heart-wrenching Til
eru fræ, the performance was destined to be a hit.
Benni himself sings in a very deep voice and strums
his guitar quietly during the verses but is usually
aided by a full brass band during choruses and often
epic outros. The Sirkus setting was fitting, the
ten-piece looking precious on the barely four
square-metre stage.
- Grapevine
One of the bands I had been looking forward to seeing
at the Festival, Benni Hemm Hemm, were up next and
they did not disappoint. They filled the stage with
at least ten people, bringing to mind Architecture in
Helsinki, a band that would be gracing the Festival on
Friday night. Benni Hemm Hemm’s sound and aesthetic
is very similar to many of the Elephant Six bands,
quirky singer with tasteful backing, but where they
differ is in their predominantly Brass Band backing.
They have been described as Big Band Folk and that
description says it all. Their set was a highlight
for me, and I was feeling so pleased by Benni Hemm
Hemm, that I could care less about Norwegian pop
superstar Annie’s bubblegum dance-rock as I watched
her close Wednesday night’s festivities at cross-town
venue, Nasa.
- indieworkshop.com
Mjög svo spennandi frumraun. Benni Hemm Hemm er
strákur með gítar og stóra lúðrasveit með sér.
Óvenjuleg en mjög skemmtileg plata. Plata sem á eftir
að lifa góðu lífi í mörg ár. Benni Hemm Hemm stimplar
sig inn í íslenskt tónlistarlíf með frábærum hætti!
- Rás 2
…But the real entertainment at Airwaves is the
chance to join Young Iceland in investigating and
cheering its own. The eccentric big band Benni Hemm
Hemm got a hero’s welcome at Grand Rokk, then repaid
the cheers with a shambolic romanticism — hearty
brass sugared with glockenspiel and Hawaiian-whine
guitar — that evoked both the ragged glories of
Broken Social Scene and the sunshine prospect of Brian
Wilson conducting a troupe of Salvation Army horns at
a 1967 Smile session. In one English-language number
from the group’s self-titled album, singer-guitarist
Benedikt Herrmannsson made Beck-with-’65-Beatles
sweetness from the improbable chorus, “I can love you
in a wheelchair, baby” — which made me wonder about
what kind of wordplay he gets up to when he sings in
Icelandic. Article in full length
- David Fricke, Rollingstone.com