Music Spotlight Vol. 1: Kria Brekkan

Some people were asking during the art critique about the musician that I played, and since I love talking about music, I wanted to give some more information and some links to some of her stuff!

Kria Brekkan is an Icelandic artist who, along with her twin sister, did vocals for the Icelandic collective Mum. After releasing several records in the late 90’s/early 2000’s with Mum, she left the group and soon after married Avey Tare (aka Dave Portner), co-founder of the absolutely amazing, fantastic, wonderful, insert more adjective here band Animal Collective.

Under the moniker Doctess, she played the piano for their 2005 record Feels (which is undoubtedly one of the greatest releases of the 21^st century; I promise I’m not biased at all; here’s a link to the track “Purple Bottle” from the record but if you like it, check out the full thing! You will not be disappointed; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_LOiiWjpug)  After several impromptu live shows together, Avey and Kria were set to release the album Pullhair Rubeye together in 2007. However, a week or two before the official release, they decided to release the entire thing reversed and sped up/slowed down in places, drawing huge criticism from critics and fans, with words like “pretentious” being thrown around (I actually think it’s kind of sweet; I see it sort of the couple keeping the magic they made together as their own secret). Either way, “fixed” versions of the tracks are all over Youtube, and the album is so very good, marrying the ethereal vocals and unsettling piano of Kria with Avey’s freak-out acoustic guitar and electronic distortions. It’s courageous, incredibly unique, and most importantly insanely good. (links to two of my favs from Rubeye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l382GBQ8tU; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcSFvrPHN-k)

However, the couple split amicably in 2010. Avey, along with stuff still being released with Animal Collective, released Down There that same year, a heart-wrenching, swampy tour through the pain of divorce, depression, and other things going on at the time in his life (the opening track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNGt-EBfS78). Kria released her own EP, albeit a short one, that same year as well entitled Uterus Water (the title track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0r9amhR4Do)

Since, Brekkan hasn’t’ been very active in releasing new music, except for the 2015 Howl, released under her given name Kristin Ann, which is comprised of over an hour of vocal and electronic loops that are easy to fade to sleep/meditation with.