02.09.2014 — “An Armful of Rubies” by Ice Cream Cathedral

Ice Cream Cathedral

If you only listen to one song tonight, make it “An Armful of Rubies” by Ice Cream Cathedral (2013, from the album The Drowsy Kingdom).

Ice Cream Cathedral is a dream pop trio from Copenhagen, Denmark. They founded in 2011 and they’re one of the newer additions to the lineup at the terrific Norwegian label Riot Factory. They released an EP in the autumn of 2011, and they spent the summer of 2012 in a cabin in the woods somewhere in Sweden. The nine songs on The Drowsy Kingdom are the result of the time in the cabin.

The band have also recently released a Norway-only EP Imprint, which consists of five of the songs from The Drowsy Kingdom, plus an EP of remixes and a couple of standalone singles.

Tonight’s song reminds me a lot of Canadian dream pop duo Memoryhouse and also a little bit of St. Vincent.

“An Armful of Rubies” by Ice Cream Cathedral

I love the vocals of Anja Lehrmann, and that’s exactly what reminds me of Memoryhouse. Actually, the delicacy of the guitars also remind me of Memoryhouse. It’s Lehrmann’s intensity and also a keyboard/knob twisting part in “An Armful of Rubies” that I mistook for theremin that reminded me of St. Vincent. I was thinking specifically of the song “Northern Lights”.

It’s worth noting that Ice Cream Cathedral drummer Anders Bach, like Andy Stack from Wye Oak, sometimes plays the drums with one hand while simultaneously playing keys with the other. It’s pretty impressive.

Here’s a video of the band playing in a studio:

You can buy a download of The Drowsy Kingdom from the Amazon store.