I bought a stereo today. So I decided to sit down and go through this stack of promos, give them at least one listen before selling them. Most of them, I barely got through three songs.
But this one... I can't figure out why it is special. It's a genre I usually have no time for (Nick Drake-ish acousticky singer songwritery stuff) but it nearly made me cry. I remember reading the press release when it came (though I can't find it now) and thinking "Oh god, this will be awful..."
Maybe it's the beautiful mumbling, almost self conscious tremolo in the guy's voice. Maybe it's the glacially pretty arrangements, sparse at first listen, yet glistening with country touches of beauty. Maybe it's the naive "English is not my first language" songwriting which makes him admit things most people all do but keep to themselves (saving his absent girlfriend's voice on his answerphone to listen to before he goes to sleep).
I don't know; all these things are things which often make me hate an artist. I have more than a hint of a suspicion that it's contrived, that someone is trying to engineer a lovely Swedish senstive indieboy to appeal to lonely indiegirls. But somehow it all works. And it keeps making me cry.
Ever had this experience, of passing something by, only to have it come back and grab you when you least expected it?
― kate, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 00:03 (twenty-three years ago)
Forgot to say what it was. Kristofer Astrom and Hidden Truck: Northern Blues. Sorry I don't have the Swedish character to type his name properly. Am off in search of a website to find out more about them...
― kate, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 00:04 (twenty-three years ago)
Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelations of Rastafari, "Oh Carolina"
― dave q, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 09:28 (twenty-three years ago)
Dear Kate,
Don't make the mistake of selling this album! It's actually one of my favourite albums of the year, more or less for the same reasons you mention (although English isn't my 1st language either). It's a very beautiful record that intrigues in a very strange but beautiful away, especially the first half of the album. The guy plays guitar (and sings?) in another band called Fireside who seem to be rather well-known in Sweden and got good reviews on their last couple of albums in The Netherlands. Never liked them as much as this album 'though.
― Crispijn, Thursday, 7 November 2002 14:40 (twenty-three years ago)