Newspaper Article

Film & Music: Jazz, world, folk, etc: Zither sisters: How did an all-female Icelandic band, who play any instrument they can find, end up recording with American legend Lee Hazlewood?

Peschek, David

2007

Overview

After a self-released EP in 2004, Amiina signed to Ever Records, a small label started by an expat Briton, Wyndham Wallace, living in Berlin who told them of his time working with legendary singer/songwriter and producer Lee Hazlewood. \"They were very excited,\" Wallace remembers. \"They knew some of the rarer albums as well as the material he had worked on for Nancy Sinatra, so I could tell this wasn't just a pose. A lot of people claim they're big fans of his, but because so much of his music has been out of print, it's not that easy to be well versed in his catalogue. When Solrun and Edda came to stay with me in Berlin after we'd signed the deal, I remember we sat up listening to records like A House Safe for Tigers, the soundtrack to a rare experimental film he made in the 70s in Sweden, and they loved it.\" Wallace had worked with Hazlewood since the end of the 90s, as a publicist. The pair became friends and, after Hazlewood was diagnosed with cancer and Wallace had set up the deal for what would be his final album, Cake Or Death, Hazlewood told his friend that, from that point on, he was free to include the words \"manager of Lee Hazlewood (Europe)\" on his business cards. \"You never know,\" Hazlewood had said, \"one day that might mean something.\" Hazlewood died on August 4 and never heard the finished recording. Meanwhile, Amiina rearranged Hilli, a track from [Kurr], around Hazlewood's faltering but nonetheless imperious vocal, adding extra instrumentation and backing vocals. Wallace confesses it left him \"blubbering\" the first time he heard it. \"The moment when he says 'the world needs a little more love' breaks my heart every time I hear it. It's deeply sentimental, but I know that he had a little smile on his face when he read that line. He still knew exactly what he was doing. I wish he'd heard it, I really do.\"

• Publisher: Guardian News & Media Limited
• Subject: Hazlewood, Lee / Sigfusdottir, Maria Huld Markan