Somewhere among the snowy and otherworldly environs of Reykjavik, Jón Björn Árnason and Leifur Kristinsson created Ourlives. They've been together for nine years, having already released two albums in their native Iceland. Their second album Den of Lions has now been released stateside, and neatly displays the band's penchant for minimalist, atmospheric songs. Think early-00s Coldplay, but with more weight.
Den of Lions is a slow burner, but when you really get to the heart of the album it's worth the wait. Árnason has described the album's songs as all touching on paranoia in some way, but this is combined with uncertainty and fleeting moments of hope. On "Out of Place", lead singer Kristinsson carefully expresses a sense of hope as he sings "I think of you as an eye in the sky/Watching out all the time" while musically the song has a mournful sound. There is no lack of atmosphere throughout this LP. It would be remiss to describe Den of Lions as uplifting, but its honesty and minimalism is warmly inviting.
For those moments when you're sitting in your reading room, drinking a stiff brandy (can we pretend for the purpose of this that we all live in Victorian Britain?) and struggling to understand the world, "Heart" is the only song that will coax you back to life. It's soft and lilting yet somehow has a grandiose feel to it, from the heaviness in the opening vocals of "There are days when nothing feels right" to the pleading chorus of "My heart wears me out/ Why?/ I don't know" there's something beautifully poignant about this song. It could be the delicate plodding of violins that occasionally appear, or the way the bass and guitar seem to gently rest side by side. It's these neat little tricks, like the sparse but so carefully arranged instrumental backing, that really makes Den of Lions shine.
Listening to Den of Lions feels like peacefully walking through a pensive exploration of worry and despair. There is still a tendency for some of the songs to get lost in the stripped-back melodic haze of the album, but the songs that do stand out are all the more arresting because of this.
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