Kaleo
At the beginning of autumn in 2016, Jacob, his dad Phil, and I, together drove 1,625km from Melbourne to Byron Bay to attend Bluesfest.
On the way our friend Jack politely sent Jacob a message insisting we see an Icelandic rock band he had discovered who was playing at the festival. Jacob pulled out his phone and played the song Jack had sent us, the song starts:
'All the pretty girls like Samuel’
Naturally, in my vein teenage mind, it was an instant classic.
Jack doesn't know this, but the move he played on us that day has been recycled several times throughout my dating career. I imagine him sitting back with a wry smile after he sent that message, picturing our faces as Jacob and I listened to our favourite band for the first time ever.
In my head at least, he knew exactly what he was doing.
It was a mild evening in a tropical climate, both of us sticky from the humidity with a thin layer of festival dirt on our skin. We were young, but more importantly, completely unassuming about what was to come. Jökull Júlíusson, the lead singer of Kaleo walked on stage, his long brown hair slicked back , with a thick stubble that failed to cover his strong jaw line, a trait I assume all Nordic rockstars must grow into. His blue jeans worn far too tight, in a way that only a European man could make look cool, with a brown belt made from snakeskin held together by an oversized silver buckle.
And then he sung. With a sidewards glance to Jacob, our faces mirrored in delight, our gazes returned to the stage.
I don't think we blinked for the next 45 minutes.
His vocals were unlike anything I had heard before, the deep bass as breathtaking and exceptional as the tenor highs. Even the man’s whistling was enchanting. Two days later we came back to watch them again.
Jacob and I will talk about that gig for the rest of our lives.
Months later they released their first album A/B. Over the next 5 years the notoriety of this band grew between us, as too did the depth of our friendship. It's quite possible the reason I love this band so much is because I have shared so many memories listening to them with my best friend.
But there was a problem.
Five years passed. No tours, and no second album.
Iceland has a population of less than 400,000 people. In five years, one person at a time, they could have played their first album cover to cover to over 15% of the population. If they split up between the five of them they nearly would have done the whole country.
Luckily, the second album was worth the wait. Kaleo broke news of their new album by recording themselves performing the first single live from an active volcano. And then another on an isolated volcanic stack surrounded by ocean. I like to think of this as an Icelandic indie rock.
I have spent countless hours of my life watching Jökull sing on top of floating icebergs and active volcanos, as well inside of a glacier and in the depths of an underground cave. The thing I love most about them is that I have watched these videos alone only a handful of times. I have shared my admiration for this truly beautiful and unique band with so many different people I care about. Friends, family, lovers.
I love the range of emotion you feel when listening to music you love, and I love how it makes you travel in time.
‘Save yourself' rips my heart in two every time I hear him say "someone else's gain will be my loss". The song takes me to the last time I saw xxxx, the last time her hand slipped out of mine. But I feel the same intensity of emotion when the first vibrations of his whistle reach my ear at the beginning of 'I can't go on without you'. Suddenly, I'm transported to the place we stood, all those years ago, two fresh faced young men, possibly happier than they'll ever be, listening to their favourite band, in good company.
*15.64 percent of 400,000 people is 62,560. A/B takes 42 minutes to listen to. 62,560 x 42 minutes = 2,627,520 minutes. Theres 2,629,800 minutes in 5 years.
-Sam
