Hafdís Huld - Darkest Night (2024)

To appreciate Hafdís Huld, you can get tripped up by trying to read too much into things that make no sense. Her 2012 album Vögguvísur (An English version translated as Lullabies, was released last year) has been helping Icelandic families at bedtime ever since its release and is now Iceland’s most streamed album of all time. Yet, outside some regions of the world, she has a much lower profile. Darkest Night, her newest album, looks to change that, however, not at the expense of singing about things that matter.

The sounds of acoustic guitar fill the air on Darkest Night as she tells a tale filled with family grief. Her great-grandfather almost lost his life fighting to ensure that he and other working-class fishermen were able to earn a decent wage fishing in Icelandic waters. The entrance of drums pushes the song to another level, giving it a 21st-century veneer. She recounts, “They said the sea would take him/ And who would listen then?/ Is that what you get when you stand up/ For your fellow men?”

Huld’s tone of voice is sweet and breathy, which makes her songs all the more surprising. They are braver and bolder than expected, with drums and keyboards transforming these folk tunes into something bolder and more robust. Seemingly light and bubbly, Hindsight clarifies the idea that everything is always perfect. Amidst the lightness of the acoustic guitar and the finger-snapping, the message that plays through is not quite so simple, “cause when you spread the truth so thin/ it’s only a matter to time ‘til the rot sets in.”

Songs that sound gentle break your heart; Blind Spot spills out the legacy of a relationship born to fail. Keyboards play a pleasant enough melody, while the lyrics reveal the sad nature of this particular relationship. “Standing in the blind spot/ Easy to ignore/ Feel invincible/ Like so many before.” The mystery is how she can make something so dark have the most pleasant veneer. There’s a solemnity to the organ of Softer Shade of Blue, while the lyrics present a love song of incredible sweetness. “I swear the sky grows a softer shade of blue/ While I’m standing underneath it next to you.” Pitched with an unmistakable shade of melancholy, there’s little mystery about how the lyrics should be taken, making the song that much more interesting.

Hafdís Huld creates bittersweet moments where reality is embraced with a sense of wonder while still looking at a world that doesn’t always meet expectations. Darkest Night astonishes with its ability to take on extraordinary real-life personal and family stories with such a tender sense of grace.