‘Lost Empires’ – don’t the British know all about them? (Note I use the time served adjective, not this God-awful ‘Brit’ thing). And having lost just about all of our overseas territories now we’re in danger of losing the homeland as well. But don’t get me started on that.
Iceland never had an empire as far as know, unless you count Greenland. I think it was Erik the Red (nothing to do with Cantona), who discovered that place when he was blown of course while out on an afternoon fishing trip. It saved itself a lot of problems.
The Sweet Parade (Snorri Gunnarsson) is a thoughtful chap who has the added advantage of being a multi-instrumentalist and plays most of what you hear.
Last time out, in ‘Bonfires’, he was bemoaning (my interpretation) the loss of his youth and the idealism that went with it but as he’s a clever lyricist you could easily find an alternative analysis.
And so it is with ‘Lost Empires’. Is he just extending that philosophy (“It’s just matter of small beliefs/some hope to carry you through the days; Just a hymn for the lies you told/that you would amount to anything at all”?
And then the final lines: “only heartache can feel so real in hindsight/in the rearview.”
When he refers to a Paper King, is he merely identifying his own weakness?
Or is his target a personality? A local, Icelandic one or one straddling the world stage?
I don’t know and I’m not sure we are supposed to. It’s one of those songs where possible interpretations are manifold.
I believe I may have mentioned this before but Snorri often makes me think of some of the characters that have arisen out of Icelandic literature, such as Hlynur, the anti-hero of Hallgrimur Helgason’s ‘101 Reykjavik’, not because he’s a slacker like Hlynur but because he sheds light on the hidden Reykjavik, the bit that the hordes of tourists don’t see even though they tramp the same streets.
He isn’t alone; he’s in good company with the likes of Myrkvi, Inki and Soffía. They have a similar impact but it’s something we get to experience too infrequently with British artists.
He always gets a good musical vibe going and ‘Lost Empires’ is no exception. With its weird instrumental noises that could be coming from a mandolin, theremin or synthesiser, short passages that would have fitted 1970s folk-prog songs, Ravi Shankar sitar-like interjections and multi-tracked vocal there is something endearingly psychy about it, too.
‘Lost Empires’ the album will be out on 15th September.
Find him on:
Bandcamp (track, for download): https://thesweetparade.bandcamp.com/track/lost-empires
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesweetparademusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesweetparadeband/
