As it happens I’m reading, for the second time, the Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indridason’s creepy Second World War crime novel The Shadow District. It deals with unexplained murders taking place over 70 years apart in Reykjavik and elsewhere and centres on ‘The Situation’ as the native population called the Allied occupation and the liaisons that took place between local girls and British and American soldiers.
But The Situation had other meanings as well to some people and for many it stood for the ridiculous one whereby the country was occupied by foreign powers while preparing for its independence from Denmark.
And it’s a similar vibe that arises out of Amalie Skriver’s single ‘Uncertainty’ which was released on 4th October and which will feature on a compilation album to be released soon.
Ostensibly it deals with the potential cancellation of a wedding celebration that was scheduled to take place in the early months of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and the depression that she countered by writing the song.
We’ve heard quite a few songs with a similar theme over the last few years but with this one there is, as is the case with the novel, a wider picture, namely how life can change in an instant – as many people have discovered this last 12 months in particular.
It’s a challenging song for several reasons. Firstly because, while it’s a major keys oriented ‘happy’ folk-pop song the lyrics are a little depressing, especially lines like “Nobody knows if we will make it through” and references to “waiting on the other side” in 50 years, which could be interpreted in several ways.
About a third of the way through come the lines “I met the man of my dreams/yet here I am drowning in self pity”. From that moment on I expected Amalie to throw off the shackles of despair and rise to the occasion in an ‘I will survive’ moment but regrettably that doesn’t happen and the song continues in a dispiriting vein until the end.
And that in itself creates a dichotomy with the video in which Amalie looks relaxed and smiles a lot as if she’s put an unfortunate episode behind her and moved on.
While I’ve been critical here there are some notably positive points. She has a crisp, clear contralto pitch voice similar in tone to that of Karen Carpenter, and excellent diction; no lyric video is needed. Indeed the feel of the song is one of a Carpenters production, especially in the guitar solo, while the harmonies are spot on.
It will be interesting to hear what comes out of this compilation album, which covers 15 years of her recordings.
Find her on:
Website: https://www.amalieskriver.dk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amalieskriverofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amalieskriver/
