Hailing from Rejkyavik, Iceland, the mysterious, elusive Singapore Sling at once celebrate and cross-pollinate the diverse, ambitious artistic vision of the best of the early Creation Records roster, running the gamut from the Jesus and Mary Chain to Primal Scream to My Bloody Valentine to Swervedriver. Their music is at once renegade and retrospective, a bristling, anarchic sonic attack, mounted atop classic, hook-laden psychedelic pop.
Their debut album, "The Curse Of Singapore Sling", is a dark and dangerous aural cocktail mixed from three alternately squalling/furiously riffing guitars, thrusting bass, hypnotically wailing keyboards, primal drums and strategic percussion. Released stateside in June 2003 by New York's Stinky Records label, "The Curse Of Singapore Sling" has garnered widespread critical acclaim, described by Rolling Stone Magazine as "weighty, important, awesome", and by the New York Times as "postpunk power and pugnacity". Singapore Sling's production strategies are simple but effective: singer-songwriter-guitarist Henrik Björnsson lays down basic tracks on his 8-track and the rest of this band mates show up, crank up the volume to "11" and let 'er rip! Singapore Sling's hypnotic wall of sound simultaneously evokes the era of the Beats, classic 50's AM rock radio and the infinite promise and possibilities of the open road, times when rock 'n' roll was redemptive and pure - all brute, raw power that didn't make sense and wasn't expected to. Singapore Sling's music also reverberates with the proto-punk manifestos of Suicide, the Stooges and the Velvet Underground (all among the band's chief musical heroes).
The band formed in Spring of 2000 and garnered critical plaudits and attention for their appearances at the 2001 and 2002 Iceland Airwaves Festivals. In addition to Björnsson, Sling members include Helgi Petursson on guitar and keyboards, Einar Kristjansson on guitar, Toggi Guðmundsson on bass, Bjarni Johannsson on drums and Siggi Shaker on marracas and tambourine.
In late 2002, Singapore Sling released the Icelandic version of their debut album, "The Curse of Singapore Sling", on Iceland's Hitt Records, to both critical acclaim and chart success in Iceland. Thereafter, in June 2003, New York-based indie label Stinky Records (home of acts such as Northern California's Low Flying Owls and Sweden's Citizen Bird) released "The Curse of Singapore Sling" throughout North America, to college and commercial alternative specialty radio chart success, as well as enormous critical acclaim. An odyssey into the underbelly of rock music, the album launches with the dark and unabashedly sexy "Overdriver", shifting into the Phil Spector-esque "Summer Garden", and then into the menacing, grooving guitar riff of "Nuthin' Ain't Bad". Other highlight tracks include "Listen", which is featured in a videoclip that includes the band performing with the accompaniment of a bevy of bikini-clad dancing girls tapped from the Icelandic female volleyball league.
In support of the release of "The Curse of Singapore Sling" in North America, Singapore Sling mounted a successful first North American Summer tour, including a headline appearance at New York's Central Park Summerstage Festival, and supporting duties on The Raveonettes' West Coast Summer tour. In Fall 2003, Singapore Sling will be returning to tour the US again, including an appearance at the CMJ Music Festival.
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