Moddi – Floriography

Floriography has already topped the charts in Pål Moddi Knutsen’s native Norway, which considering the unleavened tone is no mean feat; Damien Rice is the nearest equivalent in the UK charts, though O was a smash hits carnival by comparison. The evocative settings are permanently dialled to ‘freezing cold’ and ‘glum as mud’, but there’s something rather moving about the interplay between Knutsen’s tremulous voice and the oft-used wheezing accordion.

The opening tracks – an impassioned Rubble and majestic Magpie Eggs – mirror the first half of last year’s Rubbles EP (though curiously, the song Floriography is absent…), which in some ways was a more manageable dose of such a ponderous style. Of the new songs, Smoke is the highlight, beginning unassumingly before Knutsen flares up and lets loose. It helps guide Floriography away from tedium, just don’t expect to hear Reggie Yates gabbing over it any time soon. [Chris Buckle]