No band make nerve-biting paranoia and tension sound more luxurious and cinematic than Iceland’s Russian.Girls. Starting off as a solo project of Fufanu‘s Guðlaugur Einarsson before expanding to its current form as a trio with Tatjana Dís and Gylfi Sigurðsson, the band are one of our favourite new finds of the last few years, and we interviewed them back in May. Now back with a new EP, Digua, part of HFN Music’s Sisters & Brothers series, we’re happy to bring you the first listen to a new track, Por Que Rock.
Por Que Rock is a low-key, minimalistic track, but one that grows into its spidery, sinister world. Kicking off with just drums and bassline, the song starts to open up and crack, and all sorts of little synths and clips start to wander into the background. It’s a creeping, crawling rock song that lives firmly in that on-edge nightmare world, and rides on your nerves and numb half-fears in the way the best Russian.Girls songs do. In a message, the band say:
Por Que Rock asks the listener a fundamental question: ‘Why rock?’ If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound? If you beat your head against a rock and no one is around, does it make a sound? The song started out as this surf bassline, and deliberately becomes a collage of elements. Gylfi wrote it in a old wooden house filled with ghosts, he could barely sleep from fear (seriously). So it’s kind of a ghost song! Rebolledo has a track called Guerrero, that song is the cure for Por Que Rock‘s exorcism. Alright hope y’all are doing fine, and keep on rocking in the free world!
Digua is out on HFN Music on October 12.