101 Rekjavik

Following on from the cartoon hip hop funk of the Gorillaz, Albarn returns with yet another chapter of his twin obsessions – Iceland (he owns a bar there) and putting increasing distance between himself and the chirpy cockney pop of Country House.

Here in collaboration with Benediktsson (the shouty one with the trumpet in the Sugarcubes), he delivers an obscure soundtrack to an obscure film (the story of a man who finds that his pregnant girlfriend is also his mother’s lesbian lover – hurrah for Icelandic cinema!).

At 30 tracks of instrumental electronica, this isn’t the most manageable of affairs, but slips by nicely as background music, which in the end is what it’s there for. Without the benefit of seeing the film, the reasoning for the six different versions of ‘Lola’ are a little unclear. After all that noodling, the appearance of a proper song is hugely welcome – even if it is an equally odd offering from Gusgus.

One for the more adventurous.