While ‘fjord' is a fun word to say, it invokes an intimidating image. Angular, jutting, foreboding walls, consuming you as you row within the inlet, and perhaps get a mean snap of vertigo. And that's probably the idea behind Toronto-based Fjord Rowboat. Informed by the wall-of-sound aesthetic, Fjord Rowboat constructs large, soaring, sometime ominous soundscapes, blended craftily with a sweeping minor key pop sensibility. The strength of their first album, Saved the Compliments for Morning, in tandem with a powerful live performance meant to test the structural integrity of the room earned them the stage with the likes of Handsome Furs, Red Sparrowes, Uncut, A Place to Bury Strangers, Enon, The Octopus Project and The Most Serene Republic.

Fjord Rowboat is poised to release their most focused work yet, Under Cover of Brightness, on June 15th. An amalgamation of post-punk and dramatic dream pop, Under Cover of Brightness is a gorgeous and uplifting collection of ten songs with the type of intensity that will sure to thrill fans of dynamic Anglo-style, shoegaze-tinged rock and the classic 4AD set. This is one to watch for in 2010.