ProStudioMasters.com

“Running from it all in her mind” in recent years, Stína Ágústsdóttir launched a toppling wave within herself of fearless emancipation from the palpable crush of female mundane existence. Unfulfilled by the glass menagerie of society’s expectations, Stina set out to rebel in the name of her sanity. “I’ve been a woman in the music industry. I’ve known the pressures and social constraints of motherhood and womanhood. After masking my own needs for the benefit of others for far too long, I reached a tipping point that birthed an almost violent desire for radical authenticity. Sending these feelings into my creative life gave me a road to follow through myself at first then out of my singing mouth and my body, creating into an album I am so grateful for, because it is so vibrantly true and vibrantly me.” STÍNA ÁGÚSTSDÓTTIR’s “Yours Unfaithfully” new studio album, carried by her insurrectionist desires and alluring musical complexities makes for stirring, rambunctious theatre of her entirety. This is a creative work that serves, in no uncertain terms, as her poetic prison break. Freeing herself from the cellophane straight jacket of societal life, Stina found solace with bold companion songwriters—subversive women collaborators like Maïa Davies (Canadian 12 x top ten hit maker) and Sweden’s notable Yrsa Schau, as well as the genre bending Icelandic producer/guitarist Mikael Máni Ásmundsson. The collaborative couplings became her diving boards into unknown waters. She leaped first recklessly then tumbled elegantly, landing in a fantastical return to her deepest “Glitter Blood.” Every kind of musical magic she remembered resurfaced: Nancy Sinatra nostalgic kitsch cowboy, Joni Mitchell Court and Spark melodic dreamcore and all the treasures stored in her deep jazz subconscious. Moving so naturally through the innovative, jagged musical arrangements, Stina plates layer upon layer of gooey good food for the soul, delivered with sparkling, champagne-raising vocal panache, landing somewhere between the tonal spell of Nico and the synthy ethereality of Queen Kate Bush. Thoughtfully composed jazz forms zagmorph into rivers of innovative warm pop; the whole strata of the opus is welcoming, and though Stina treads on somewhat unorthodox instrumental ground, the songs have an instantly classic feel to them. Freedom is at the album’s core in experimental arrangements, hop along pop hooks, and sensual R&B jazz motifs all crowned by haywire not-so-nice-girl poignant observations and deep musings on sex (“I want to seduce your mother,” “Chaotic”). Through it all, the divergent journey of her screaming lust for transformation captivates our attention, never letting go. Stina Agustdottir’s vocals float iridescently, emotionally compelling: at all the right moments, her star power voice is so moving, it hurts (“Your life is your life, don’t let it be clubbed into dark submission,” “’Laughing Heart “). As an added treat, Stina Agustdottir effortlessly swings between English and her native Icelandic (“Rokkur,” “Fountains”). At this pivotal stage of her life and career, Stina has built a raft on which she adamantly journeys, escapes suburban boredom and sails into “The (real) role of her life” (“Perfect Box”).