Anti-capitalist iconoclasm in which dry beats, political statements and clever wordplay overlap
IJSLAND is no land, it is a supergroup. Sef and Abel find each other, repel each other and then find each other again, like charged particles resulting in a series of nuclear explosions. Purely intuitively, just like the previous album, IJSLAND 2 was put together within a week. Again, produced entirely by Antwerp super-producer DJ Faisxl, IJSLAND's fifth Beatle.
IJSLAND 2 demands that you sit on the edge of your seat for almost 50 minutes. That you laugh, that you cry, that you scream. The album is about terror, cake, conspiracies and disappointments. Under the guise of “more is more”, there is no hesitation to mix genres. Ultimately, this results in an album that can be described as intense, complex and overwhelming, mirroring the times we live in.
Their second co-creation may have been banged together in a week again, but it is twice as long as its predecessor. Fifteen tracks, including intro, outro and the occasional catchy autotune chorus, ready to set the festival fields (and AB Club) aflame.
Quite a lot happened between IJSLAND 1 and IJSLAND 2. Cabinets fell, wars were waged. Sef had his most successful year ever with his acclaimed album Lieve Monsters, that he took on a sold-out tour. Abel released the Edison-nominated album ER IS HOOP* with Hang Youth and wrote the bestseller Chaotisch Denken Voor Gevorderden for Das Mag.
ABOUT ABEL
Abel van Gijlswijk. Who doesn’t know him? Bestseller author, singer of Hang Youth (the most important punk band in The Netherlands), iconoclast, anarchist of the nation, man of flesh and blood.
ABOUT SEF
Sef (Yousef Gnaoui) has been an important player on the Dutch scene. He has scored multiple hits, both under his own name as well as with other projects, made podcasts and won various awards. Although he has been in the game for quite a while, Sef manages to remain relevant and continues to surprise with unconventional music in which he keeps pushing his boundaries.