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Benni Hemm Hemm’s music might be a wistful exploration of the understated, but it requires quite a bit of horn players. At Mercury Lounge there were five of them (switching between at least two trumpets, two trombones, a French horn and a sousaphone). As they waited by the steps leading to the tiny stage, they felt no less than men readying for war. Except, there was no war: as Benni explained some of his Icelandic songs to an English-speaking audience, they were mostly about snow, hills and things they intend to never do, such as (1) make a promise and (2) betray. This the American audience found funny, and Benni smiled along.

Download “Graceland” (from Graceland EP)

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Playing before them were Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. When I got there, singer Owen Ashworth was huddled over his electronics, singing heartbreaking tunes by himself. His four-piece band (drums, bass, guitar, keyboards) joined for the rest, though they were barely able to pollute the melancholy in Owen’s raspy voice. His personality (translated superbly into a band name) leads to the kind of songwriting that feels quintessentially American. To top it off, there was an excellent cover of Paul Simon’s Graceland.

More after the jump.

Benni Hemm Hemm’s band also included a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and a percussionist in charge of interesting toys. From where I stood I could only identify the triangle. I’m not sure how this army’s going to fit on the Union Hall stage on July 28th, though we can probably be assured that the entire band will be there. The mellow “Snjör ljös snjör” (the one about the snow!) stood out as one of the energetic songs live, but the one where they went all out was the last song. Benni explained that it was about a farmer who’s considering building an aluminum plant on his farm (the booming chorus from the horn players was a riot, I’ll see if my video clip is worth posting). There were some songs in English, too, as they are on the self-titled album before the recent Kajak. One of them was the Hawaiian love song, “Ku-Ui-Po”.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

Owen & gang had a very supportive crowd, most of which dispersed after their set. Benni’s crowd, on the other hand, was as difficult to decipher as Benni himself.

Previously:

• Take-away shows: Benni Hemm Hemm and Sufjan Stevens
• Favorite song of the week: “Snjór ljós snjórâ€? by Benni Hemm Hemm

UPDATE: Due to predicted weather condittions the rally has been moved indoors (Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church at 85 South Oxford Street), but Matthew is still calling for brass players.

Matthew Fass, bandleader of Brooklyn-based Zagnut Cirkus Orkestar, is calling all brass players to come out with their “honking instruments” and stimulate the sound of 1400 cars that would be parked at the corner of Vanderbilt and Dean street should three enormous parkling lots be built as planned by Eliot Spitzer and Mike Bloomberg. The convergence will be part of a bigger rally, and he’s asking everyone to meet at the corner of Carlton & Pacific street at 1 PM Sunday April 15th.