Benni Hemm Hemm: Retaliate EP
Being a sucker for Icelandic artists, I was excited to find that Benni Hemm Hemm is releasing Retaliate EP in April. Benni now lives in Scotland and this album marks the first time he has sung every song in English.
Benni recorded this album using his own recording gear, while the previous albums were recorded in the studio owned by Sigur Rós. The title song of Retaliate reveal a stripped down Benni Hemm Hemm, without the brass instruments breaking his song open. While Benni plas most of the instruments on the album, he is joined by Emily Scott on double bass and Peter Liddle on trumpet and alto-horn.
“The resulting EP is a collection of five songs which feature knives, gold, lazy pioneers, confident talibans, blood thirsty vampires, Stan-Stan-the-caretaker-man and last but not least blood, lots of blood.”
The EP ‘launch night’ is set for March 29th at The Bowery in Edinburgh. This will be his second album released on Kimi Records, an imprint based out of Benni’s native island, and it will be released as a 10″ vinyl in Europe, US and Japan.
Benni Hemm Hemm, whose real name is Benedikt H. Hermannsson, has been performing and recording with a large brass band since 2003, but it has been three years since he released Kajak, Benni’s first and only full-length.
Listen: Benni Hemm Hemm – Retaliate
Interact: Benni Hemm Hemm’s website
Benni Hemm Hemm tour dates:
24.03.10 Dublin (IR), Whelans
26.03.10 London (UK), tba
27.03.10 Oxford (UK), Jericho Tavern
28.03.10 Cardiff (UK), Buffalo Bar
01.04.10 Akureyri (IS), TBC
03.04.10 Reykjavík (IS), TBC
05.04.10 Dordrecht (NL), Bibelot
06.04.10 Brussel (BE), TBC
07.04.10 Luxembourg (LU), D:qliq
08.04.10 Paris (FR), Cafe de la Danse (tbc)
14.04.10 Vienna (AT), Chelsea
16.04.10 Erlangen (DE), E-Werk
17.04.10 Berlin (DE), Glashaus
18.04.10 Hamburg (DE), Hafenklang