General Ratings:
Music: 6
Lyrics: 8
Scope: 3
Consistency: 9
RIYL: early Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, Devendra Banhart
Further Listening: Deer Tick, Peter & the Wolf, Castanets
Place of Origin: Dalarna, Sweden
Instrument/Sounds List: Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Ambient Sounds
Mood Tones:
Season: Fall
Weather: Overcast
Time of Day: Late Afternoon
Song Highlights: The Gardener, The Blizzard's Never Seen the Desert Sands, This Wind
Favorite Lyrics:
"Deep in the dust, forgotten, gathered/
I grow a diamond in my chest/
I make reflections as the moon shines/
Turn to a villain as I rest." (from I Won't Be Found)
"As we cease to know where our fates will go/
We wont see the rivers high up in the vines/
Branches will untie every mumbling lie/
Every frayed word in your lullaby is heard." (from Honey, Won't You Let Me In)
"I sense a spy up in the chimney/
From all the evidence I've burned/
I guess he'll read it in the smoke now/
And soon to ashes I'll return." (from The Gardener)
Other Thoughts:
I can't stress enough how much this album sounds like early period Bob Dylan, from the cleanliness of the production to the austerity in instrumentation, to the nasal twang in Kristian Matsson's voice. The biggest difference between them is probably lyrical content - while Dylan concerned himself more with conventional storytelling and political diatribe, Matsson prefers metaphysical musings and Surrealist imagery. And the lyrics really are this album's bread and butter. It makes me as impressed as envious that he can write this well within neatly metered lines in his second language. Picking favorite lyrics was especially difficult because really, they're all good (which accounts for part of the high rating for consistency).
The melodies, finger-picked on a lone acoustic guitar or banjo, are all pretty consistently good too, although only a couple are indelibly recallable after the album's stopped playing. Herein lies the rub with this record: it's hardcore, no-frills folk music, and if that's not your thing, nothing you'll find here will win you over. Of course simplicity is a double-edged sword, and what one person finds boring, another will find practical. This is the antithesis of a headphones record, as there are almost always only two components to any song, the vocals and the guitar or banjo, and to miss either of them you'd have to be asleep. Because of this, people who will enjoy this record on repeat listens will probably do so on the first one too, as it comes to feel familiar alarmingly quickly. Depending on your perspective, that's either a comfort or a disappointment. For my part, I feel almost wholly the former.
Music: 6
Lyrics: 8
Scope: 3
Consistency: 9
RIYL: early Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, Devendra Banhart
Further Listening: Deer Tick, Peter & the Wolf, Castanets
Place of Origin: Dalarna, Sweden
Instrument/Sounds List: Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Ambient Sounds
Mood Tones:
Season: Fall
Weather: Overcast
Time of Day: Late Afternoon
Song Highlights: The Gardener, The Blizzard's Never Seen the Desert Sands, This Wind
Favorite Lyrics:
"Deep in the dust, forgotten, gathered/
I grow a diamond in my chest/
I make reflections as the moon shines/
Turn to a villain as I rest." (from I Won't Be Found)
"As we cease to know where our fates will go/
We wont see the rivers high up in the vines/
Branches will untie every mumbling lie/
Every frayed word in your lullaby is heard." (from Honey, Won't You Let Me In)
"I sense a spy up in the chimney/
From all the evidence I've burned/
I guess he'll read it in the smoke now/
And soon to ashes I'll return." (from The Gardener)
Other Thoughts:
I can't stress enough how much this album sounds like early period Bob Dylan, from the cleanliness of the production to the austerity in instrumentation, to the nasal twang in Kristian Matsson's voice. The biggest difference between them is probably lyrical content - while Dylan concerned himself more with conventional storytelling and political diatribe, Matsson prefers metaphysical musings and Surrealist imagery. And the lyrics really are this album's bread and butter. It makes me as impressed as envious that he can write this well within neatly metered lines in his second language. Picking favorite lyrics was especially difficult because really, they're all good (which accounts for part of the high rating for consistency).
The melodies, finger-picked on a lone acoustic guitar or banjo, are all pretty consistently good too, although only a couple are indelibly recallable after the album's stopped playing. Herein lies the rub with this record: it's hardcore, no-frills folk music, and if that's not your thing, nothing you'll find here will win you over. Of course simplicity is a double-edged sword, and what one person finds boring, another will find practical. This is the antithesis of a headphones record, as there are almost always only two components to any song, the vocals and the guitar or banjo, and to miss either of them you'd have to be asleep. Because of this, people who will enjoy this record on repeat listens will probably do so on the first one too, as it comes to feel familiar alarmingly quickly. Depending on your perspective, that's either a comfort or a disappointment. For my part, I feel almost wholly the former.
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