Now I'm a girl who likes her music loud, and preferably jumpable to. Sugar-coated, cute-as-a-button, girl-next-door, singer-songwritery pop just doesn't do it for me. Or it didn't until I heard effervescent Icelandic bombshell Hafdis Huld's Synchronised Swimmers. I don't know if it's the homemade handicrafts on the album artwork, the Icelandic tongue-in-cheek attitude, or the ukulele (it's pink by the way. A pink flying V ukulele). Hafdis' songs are lilting, cheeky, and optimistic. She tells it like it is, but with a puppy-dog charm that oozes kitschy enthusiasm. Let's face it, you can't help but like a girl who sings about friends, nosy neighbours, and her love rival having "really stupid hair". www.hafdishuld.com
