Icelandic singer Hafdis Huld’s new single ‘Kongulo’ (meaning spider), mythicises the ‘human spiderman’ Alain Robert. Basing a song around the French stuntman’s exploits may seem strange, but the concept works brilliantly. As anyone who has heard of the skyscraper-tackler one can attest, the subject matter is endearing and fascinating enough to work as the focus of this musical homage. The use of percussive instruments gives a Latin-American feel to the track, so that you could almost imagine it on the Kill Bill soundtrack, telling of the legend of Pai Mei. Huld’s voice is lovely yet absorbing in a Bjork-like way, as though there is more to her than her baby blonde bob and jelly-sweet filled single cover would suggest. The chorus uses the title word as its focus in order to make the listener sing along throughout, and is catchy enough to succeed in sticking around in one’s head for a while. ‘Kongulo’ leaves one with a good feeling, its upbeat tempo and bright melody nevertheless balanced by dominant instrumentation which denotes the sincerity of awe for the hero of the tale. It makes one want to hang onto every word to hear about his feats, leaving one pleasantly intrigued by Huld’s curiosity towards him. She certainly makes an impression with this single, and is interesting enough to gain the durability needed to bring more of her delightful folk to the world.
