Snorri Helgason

With Sprengjuhöllin(Snorri's former indie-pop band) Snorri Helgason has proven he is a superb song-writer who can easily knock out some catchy tunes. On his debut solo album he explores the down-trotted paths of folk and blues music with very interesting results. The music on this album is more delicate than Sprengjuhöllin but just as good. The songs are nearly all superbly written and it seems Snorri can just as easily sing up-beat pop songs and sombre country ballads. The second song on the album, Freeze-Out, fits the former category and like what's become pretty common today you first heard it in a television commercial before it was getting any considerable airplay on the radio. Queen Street has a similar feel and kind of reminds you of the great Irish pop band, The Thrills. The acoustic guitar is plucked in a fun way in She's a Meadow and the beautiful Misery evokes a genuine Beach Boys feel.
On I'm Gonna Put My Name On Your Door, Snorri proves he is one of our most talented musicians. A fantastic debut.

Freyr Bjarnason, Fréttablaðið (e. The Newspaper), 12.10.2009
- Fréttablaðið (e. "The Newspaper") Iceland

Location: The Citadel Hotel
How often to Icelandic artists play in Halifax? Not too often. Snorri Helgason took to the stage set up at Halifax Pop Explosion headquarters Tuesday evening and played a 45 minute set of acoustic tracks. Some were from his debut solo album, some from his previous work with his band Sprengjuhöllin, and a few cover songs. He had a spectacular voice, sort of unpolished, but full of passion especially when he was belting out the words “oh you’re not alone” at the end of the song Don’t Let Her. One of those voices that sends shivers down your spine. - The Broken Speaker

Snorri Helgason is primarily known for his work with the fantastic pop band, Sprengjuhöllin. You can definitely hear traces of the Sprengjuhöllin sound in some of the songs on his debut solo album, I'm Gonna Put My Name On Your Door, but not that much and the jump-around-happy-pop-songs are kept to a minimum. Snorri said in an interview with this paper that the album was closer to his musical roots than the Sprengjuhöllin stuff, he's been a folk and blues enthusiast for a long time. So here we have the real Snorri. A sincere Snorri, singing what he wants to be singing.

Snorri's singing voice has become well known to Sprengjuhöllin fans and in my opinion it has never sounded as good as on this fine record. Many of the songs are slower and gloomier than Sprengjuhöllin's music, here the artist plucks his acoustic guitar and croons his songs with great affection and intensity. But the acoustic guitar is not the only instrument heard on the album, there are keyboards, bass, drums and percussion and backing vocals in there too.
The album opens with a very beautiful song, "Carol". You can hear Snorri softly counting in the song which is a very nice way to start the album. Although they could've turned down the stomping just a little bit, Snorri stomps the rhythm of the song with his foot, it fits more naturally in the mix when the other instruments come into the mix. The song ends with a very unexpected explosion, all of a sudden drums, tambourine, female vocals, bass and guitars kick in. Very nice. The song "Freeze-Out" is just as great, you've heard it in some commercial, I think. A lot of fun that evokes Snorri's Sprengjuhöllin compositions.
The album is full of rain and sunshine, joy and depression, some of it sounds pretty familiar, but then again, Snorri is not trying to reinvent the wheel.
Many songs are very catchy but others that don't leave much of an impression. That might be the only bad thing you can say about this otherwise splendid album. Here is a guy with experience. He's honing his songwriting skills and will probably get better and better with every record.
Finally, it would have been nice to have the lyrics to the songs on the album. Maybe next time?

Helgi Snær Sigurðsson
Morgunblaðið (e. The Morning Paper) 12.17.2009 - Morgunblaðið

This debut solo album takes in country-blues (The Silence Of The Night) , a kinda hoedown rock (Freeze-out) and purer, Donovan-ish folk (Carol, She’s A Meadow) in its flighty meander through familiar, non-groundbreaking but undoubtedly excellent songwriting. This is the kind of thing McCartney would dash off before breakfasting on weed sandwiches and writing songs about frogs and pipes of peace; something like Don’t Let Her the kind of sound that Lennon would sing to himself staggering down the street drunk. It occasionally misses the mark (Gone would be better to take its own advice). But let’s face it; there are worse influences to have than The Beatles, and whether lovelorn stomp or wistful slap-back FX and sparse acoustica Helgason just about gets it right more than wrong. - The Reykjavík Grapevine

Sprengjuhöllin is one of the more controversial bands that have surfaced in Iceland in the last few years. The band shot to stardom in the summer of 2007 and was one of the biggest selling acts of that year.

A lot of critical attention was aimed at the snappy Icelandic lyrics, sometimes at the expense of the music, which in all honesty ranged from brilliant to downright poor.

It is therefore no wonder that their principal songwriter, Snorri Helgason, uses the band’s ongoing hiatus to make a more serious album.

Gone are the quirky Icelandic lyrics of fellow band member Bergur Ebbi Benediktsson but present in a more constant manner are the effortless melodies of one of the most talented songwriters this country has seen recently.

I’m Gonna Put My Name on Your Door is a solo album in all the classic understanding of that term. It is highly reminiscent of the seventies singer/songwriter tradition of artists such as Harry Nilsson.

Half of the album is mostly Helgason alone, playing an acoustic guitar, while the other half is spiced with a fuller backing band.

The album has a quiet, homely feeling without ever being depressing, as is often the case with such albums. On the contrary, the album is really joyful; it has a familiar feeling and an instant impact on the listener.

It is perhaps very fitting that the first song we heard from the album, “Freeze-out,” was in an insurance company ad-campaign.

The album’s familiar feeling is to a certain extent attributed to tracks that remind the listener of music he or she has heard before.

The lingering piano of “Queen Street” makes you think of Belle and Sebastian. “She’s a Meadow” could easily fit on Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Howl and “The Silence of the Night” takes you back to The Thrills’ So Much For the City.

As the aforementioned bands all are heavily influenced by the same musical era as Helgason, it is more likely that they are only secondary sources to him. Because in spite of this familiar feeling there is never a feeling of recycling or clichés, the songs are simply too well written for that.

A good example of that is “Don’t Let Her,” a quiet little acoustic number where there doesn’t seem to be anything special going on. But all off a sudden there is a quick irresistible elevation, which fits Helgason’s hoarse voice perfectly.

In the digital age an album of such constant quality is quite rare. Helgason manages to create an album with characteristic sound while still keeping it diverse and avoiding being repetitive.

There are no fillers and not really obvious singles, every song is a likely single in its own right. You have heard it all a million times before, but still you want to listen to this album again and again. - IcelandReview