OPandolfo is the solo project of Ólafur Josephsson, also known as Stafrænn Hákon. I thought I recognized him as I reviewed his collaboration with Ruxpin (Jonas Thor Gudmundsson) - 'Meet Me in Foverer' last year. That collaboration was pretty cool and eclectic. This solo outing by Hákon is...well, different. Acoustic guitars, live drums and bass are the main instruments used on this record along with some keyboard layers and some electric guitar here and there. Four songs have vocals and the remaining songs are instrumentals. The original concept was to explore the raw sound of the acoustic guitar which eventually progressed into more structured songs with more instruments added along the way.

At first, I thought I could get away calling this "Ambient Folk," but it is really not that. OPandolfo is a singer/songwriter project with a lot of mellow moments, and a few that aren't so mellow. Granted, it is mostly on the lighter side but not much different than the average, somewhat talented indie bedroom musical project. The performance is competent but the compositions are steeped in the territory of the familiar and comfortable with little to challenge the listener, although that probably wasn't what Stafrænn had in mind anyway. The ten tracks (in 36 minutes) roll by pleasantly enough, with generally good vibes but little you will hold in your memory about them. It's textbook indie rock, in the vein of Harmless, and similar projects. Not bad, but not enough to hold my interest.