An Icelandic female-vocalist doing something along the lines of a folk, downtempo Zero 7. You interested yet? Hell, just hit the play button to listen to Jungle Drum. Better yet, try out the second song I’ve got listed below, as that truly showcases the trip hop feel featured in much of this album. Me and Armini is Emilíana Torrini’s seventh full-length album, released in September 2008. Seven albums of increasing success, and I hadn’t heard of her until…last month? I can’t quite recall how I bumped into this album, but to be honest, there were two songs that hooked me in. And those are the two songs I’ve featured here. So, uh…listen to them!
Musician and poet blend seamlessly in each song. There is no chicken or egg question, the lyrics and melodies seem to have sprung simultaneously from the clear intuition of Torrini and close collaborator and producer, Dan Carey. Each word fits snugly against its assigned note. The lyrics deal with deep emotion but from a platform of slightly aloof observation. Potentially heavy images turn light; when she says that she has “an old beggar’s prayer on the tip of my tongue” her delivery sounds almost as if she is looking back over her shoulder with a grin as she skips away – Blog Critics
On her latest outing, the strong but uneven Me and Armini, Torrini unveils a more adventurous new side of her musical personality but sacrifices some of the emotional intensity that underpinned her predominantly-acoustic 2005 masterpiece. A somewhat scattershot mix of understated balladry and coffeehouse disco, the album’s main drawback is that it tends to pull in too many directions – Pop Matters