Song of the Day: Vök - Waiting

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Waiting”, a new self-released single by Icelandic band Vök.

Vök - Waiting (MP3)

It's easy for Nordic bands to get typecast. To critics and even fans, their sound often seems "icy" and their vocals, particularly those of female singers, "Björk-like". (On KEXP's YouTube channel, practically every other comment on the many Iceland bands we host there says as much.) Iceland's Vök, a band we've come to love over the past few years, certainly tempts that same fate, channeling as they do downtempo electropop and moody trip hop on their debut EP. Many writers have noted that even their name is a word used often in reference to ice, but in fact, "vök" refers more to an opening, be it in clouds or in ice, a clearing to something more enlivening, like water or sun. Just so, the band Vök warms their chill sound variably - through the rasp of Margrét Rán's vocals, the tone of Andri Már's sax, and the pulse of Ólafur Alexander's bass.

Today's featured song, "Waiting", is the latest single by Vök and a preview of what's to come. It's also the sunniest song by the band yet. The opening electronic washes practically glimmer, more tropical reef than stark fishing hole, and a soft gauze of reverb wraps over all. Margrét Rán's voice allures, singing about being hard to get, but not sounding aloof, and certainly not distant galactic shores away. Just look. She's probably next to you on the beach. You just haven't been paying attention. Not until now.

Let's hope Vök doesn't keep us waiting for real for too long. The Circles EP was released last year and chances are "Waiting" signals a forthcoming LP, but you'll need to keep watching the band's website and Facebook page to find out if and when any more new music will come out. For now, you can rest assured that "Waiting" isn't all they've been working on, and they even performed another new song live during their performance at Iceland Airwaves for KEXP's broadcast at Kex Hostel. Here's "Night and Day":