CMU Approved

Approved: Sakaris

By | Published on Tuesday 24 July 2012

Sakaris

One of the many brilliant Faroese acts I saw at last weekend’s G! Festival, producer Sakaris Emil Joensen’s Facebook page describes his music as sending “the listener straight into a happy computer universe where 16-bit is the dominant technology”. Lyrics, it adds, come across “as if the Super Nintendo characters have left their adventurous worlds and have been struck by everyday reality and its problems”.

As well as being up there with the best things I’ve ever read in any artist biog, all that is actually a reasonably good description of how Sakaris sounds on record. I’m always particularly drawn to pop with downbeat lyrics, and someone who has a song with lush electronic production called ‘I’m Incredibly Depressed’ is about as far down that road as it’s possible to get.

Debut album ‘I Have Beautiful Eyes’ features very layered production, taking some elements of the more mainstream end of current dance music and applying them with a more subtle touch to 80s-influenced songs. Live, with Joensen joined by a three-piece band, that 80s influence becomes even more pronounced – aided by the constant presence of a bright white keytar.

Highlights from his arsenal of tracks include ‘In A Box’ and ‘Pixieboy’, though the one that most grabbed me is the album’s title track, ‘I Have Beautiful Eyes’, featuring vocals from Greta Svabo Bech, who was previously heard on Deadmau5’s ‘Raise Your Weapon’.

Watch the video for ‘I Have Beautiful Eyes’ here:



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