GROENLAND

FEATURE ARTIST: GROENLAND

Groenland are a spectacular new alternative band coming out of Montreal Canada. Their debut album, The Chase is a beautiful combination of melodies from a large array of instruments that compliment vocalist Sabrina Halde’s voice perfectly. The album has been so well received in Montreal that they were chosen to play Canada’s second biggest music festival, Osheaga (alongside Beck, The Cure, Mumford and Son’s, Two Door Cinema Club). ( source discovered-music. )

Groenland’s style is truly unique, but Sabrina Halde’s voice is like a jazzier combination of Of Monsters and Men Vocalist  and Regina Spektor. It’s powerful, yet not overpowering.

The first song of the record Our Last Shot only gives a glimpse of what you can expect from the rest of the album. It includes a bold piano catchy piano riff at the beginning, which leads into strings.  I really like how they contrast Our Last Shot with the next songSuperhero.

Superhero is very upbeat and starts off with a ukulele. The ukulele instantly creates a different mood compared to a piano. The verse builds up to a nice harmony with more instruments added in.

The next song 26 Septembre starts off with a piano again, but has an even more differing mood. In our interview with Sabrina (see below), she said this is her favourite song from the record:

“The second the piano starts, I immediately project myself elsewhere, and it hurts, and it’s good, and it’s beautiful. Let’s leave now. We know what’s coming will be hard. Let’s buy our ticket now or we never will. Let’s live. YOLO !!!”

My favourite song however, is the following one Immune .It’s simple, it’s dark and it’s eerily beautiful. This song shows the strength of Sabrina’s lyrics, it’s about second guessing a relationship and finally letting it go even though you don’t want it to.

Day Dreaming is one of the singles released by Greenland. It’s a modest song shy sort of song. The instruments are laid back and I really like the ukulele and melodica.

The title track, and last track The Chase has super Mario-like monophonic melodies. It really shows the diversity and Groenland’s willingness to experiment with different sounds and textures.

 Songs on the album can be listened to individually, but I think it’s one of those albums that you need to listen to the whole thing at once to get the full Groenland experience. As a whole, The Chase takes you through different individual stories with different moods that come together like a movie or a book. I tell you what, if it was a book, I’d read it.

Ryan Hyde

SABRINA HALDE INTERVIEW (click for more!) 

You know I love your latest album, the Chase. Did you go into the writing or recording process with an idea or mood that you wanted to get across?

I think it goes the other way around. You write your music without really thinking about being consequent, without consciously trying to write songs that form a whole. But I did realise later that my lyrics had a general meaning: an urge to live in the present, to make things happen before it’s too late, a will to survive and to try to make things work one last time. Nature is also a major inspiration. The wisdom of things we don’t quite understand. I always say I’m a very esoteric kind of person, and I think it shows in my words, but also in the music. There is a melancholy, a kind of dark atmosphere that always finds a way to the light. The piano, the strings and the ukulele create that intention. I don’t quite know if that mood is here to stay or if it will completely change in the next album.