Illeborg & Lysdal "Hjertekamre" (2004)

Hjertekamre

release date: 2004

format: cd (APCD 60067)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]

producer: Jens Lysdal

label: ArtPeople - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Hjertekamre" - 2. "Kan ikke huske" - 3. "Den mælkehvide måne" - 5. "På må og få" - 9. "Alt kan gå i stå" - 11. "Paradis"

Collaboration album by the two folk and singer / songwriter soloists Laura Illeborg and Jens Lysdal. Admittedly, neither have taken up much space in my music collection, as I have always found it difficult to listen to Danish contemporary soft folk which mostly comes with bonds to a schlager genre I associate with kitch and an indefinable ingredient of something non-professional, which of course is completely ungrounded and also is an undeserved criticism. I have no idea from where that has its foundation, but when consciously approaching music you tend to reject, for whatever reason and all because of a judgemental position, not to forget (ugly) double-standards - meaning: the poorest reasons of all, then you should instead try to be more open-minded and focus on a want to dig out an understanding of the obvious qualities that many others see so easily.

The sudden death of Laura Illeborg early October this year made me curious about her music, as I simply had no idea of what she had produced. Illeborg only lived to be 55 years of age but she has made a solid list of releases in what I understand is a varied discography. Initially, she performed as backing vocalist on various releases for a vast number of artists from all genres and styles, and from 1996 as soloist - her debut album is Lyv mig natten lys (1996) - as collaborator, and featuring vocalist, she has long gone ensured her name in Danish music history. Jens Lysdal is likewise an artist who started out accompanying others, primarily as guitarist and backing vocalist, after which he initiated a solo career with A Matter of Time (1995). Lysdal is a multi-facetted musician with roots in jazz, folk, country, and everything in between and close by, and in company with Illeborg the two showcase a wide repertoire in a soft corner of contemporary Danish folk. And I do enjoy it. The album contains 11 songs of which nine have lyrics by Illebord and music by Lysdal. Track #8 is co-written by Lysdal, and the end-track is exclusively credited Lysdal, who also performs as multi-instrumentalist and as producer. Stylewise, you could label it ballads with elements from jazz, pop, and folk, and it's music arranged with a classic set of minimal instrumentation, focusing on vocal, electric (jazz) guitar, bass, percussion and a small doze of keyboard. It's music made with melancholy as a centre point but balanced with a lightness running through the whole album. Some songs stand more alone as quiet vocal performances, while others engage with more tempo without being uptempo arrangements.

Laura Illeborg performs with her strong original vocal, and she obviously masters the slow intimate parts as well as more uptempo pop variants. No wonder, she has a long record as featuring vocalist in the studio, and together, Illeborg and Lysdal appear like a strong duo. In Illeborg's discography, the album follows what may be regarded as her national breakthrough, the album Lidt in Love (2002), and it's succeeded by the well-received album God vagt (2007).

Hjertekamre is a solid and well-executed album in the soft corner of folk that should appeal to fans of jazz, ballads, and folk.

Daniel Norgren "Wooh Dang" (2019)

Wooh Dang

release date: Apr. 19, 2019

format: vinyl / digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]

producer: Daniel Norgren

label: Superpuma / self-released - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 2. "The Flow" - 3. "Dandelion Time" - 4. "The Power" (4 / 5) (live) - 5. "Rolling Rolling Rolling" - 6. "So Glad" - 8. "The Day That´s Just Begun" (live on KEXP)

[ full perfomance on KEXP ]

Studio album by Swedish guitarist and songwriter Daniel Norgren originally released on vinyl and cd on Superpuma Records, and released as digital album via Norgren's bandcamp profile. The album is filed as Norgren's seventh full-length studio album and it follows two studio albums released in 2015: The Green Stone (Oct. 2015) and Alabursy (Apr. 2015). Since then, he has released a US-promotion compilation Skogens frukter (May. 2017) released on vinyl for the American market only.

I only recently knowingly discovered the music by Norgren. I was watching the 2022 Italian film "Le otto montagne" ("The Eight Mountains"), an adaptation by directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeerschof of the 2016 novel debut by Paolo Cognetti, and I then made sure to pay attention to the music credits at the end of the film, and there I noticed that Daniel Norgren was credited all music. The music score was a most fitting mesmerising dimension to a beautiful film and it left me curious to check out more about this artist. I then discovered Norgren's bandcamp site - understood he is Swedish, although, I had been convinced it was an American artist - I then purchased several of his digital albums after receiving Wooh Dang, which appears to be his most recent studio album, and one that made me want more. All of his albums, or at least all of his seven full-length studio albums that I have come to know of, seem differently shaped. From his first album out Kerosene Dreams (2006) - an album which for some reason isn't included on his bandcamp site and an album I have come to know of via a major streaming service (and which isn't part of my six purchases) - through to Outskirts (2008) and Horrifying Deatheating Bloodspider (2010), Norgren appears much influenced by especially Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart, and then from Buck (2013), Alabursy and Green Stone, his music influences appear more complex with a stronger country foundation, and they all represent music with bonds to more original blues traditions with a bolder accentuated folk at the base, and then you could also say similar things of his more apparent experimental approach on his later albums.

Wooh Dang is modern indie folk with an experimental touch from someone who must be familiar with bluegrass, roots rock and a whole world of country. In that way, it's hard to pin out other Swedish acts as natural influences when Norgren's touch mostly sounds if shaped through the ages of American outback culture. Daniel Norgren is not only a great songwriter and composer, he also narrates and sings in a highly original tone. You can't always tell where it's going, but the journey, so far, is only a most delightful and pleasant one.

Highly recommended.

👉[ Norgren on bandcamp]

Paul Weller "66" (2024)

66

release date: May 24, 2024

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]

producer: Paul Weller

label: Polydor - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Ship of Fools" - 2. "Flying Fish" - 4. "Nothing" (4 / 5) - 5. "My Best Friend's Coat" - 6. "Rise Up Singing" - 7. "I Woke Up" - 9. "Sleepy Hollow" - 11. "Soul Wandering" (4 / 5)

17th studio album by Paul Weller following three years after Fat Pop (Volume 1) (May 2021) is not the perhaps expected Volume 2, when focussing on the title - it's more than close enough though, 'cause fact is, Weller certainly has found his melody treasure box in recent years and simply seems unable to make an unrelevant album. By the way, 66 has a double meaning in that it both refers to the year 1966 and a time when music came through as something in strong growth, production-wise, terms of more fully arrangements, and to specific soul-hits of that year - the front cover art by Peter Blake (who also made the cover for Stanley Road) sets the tone of that particular year quite nicely - and then of course the title hints at his current age. The album is released the day before his 66th birthday and it's Weller's first in a long series not to feature his near usual musical kindred: engineer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and co-composer Jan 'Stan' Kybert; however, the album both feature stable instrumentalists as well as several more prominent appearances, which count Suggs (aka Graham McPherson of Madness), Bobby Gillespie (of Primal Scream), Christophe Vaillant (of Le SuperHomard), Erland Copper, Steve Cradock, Noel Gallagher, Richard Hawley, Dr. Robert (aka Robert Howard), and Hannah Peel. For this, Weller has both written and composed, but also with inspiration from other songwriters found matching melodies, or simply co-written songs with various others. The remarkable side to that is a strong coherent collection of diverse songs, where Weller's vocal hardly ever sounded this expressive.

The album might as well be titled 'Volume 2 (66)' or something similar as it takes up the baton from the 2021 album. It's not strictly from the same night out on town as the '21 album came with more uptempo songs and this one appears more of a mellow-mooded breed - perhaps followed by a melancholy considering all the years gone by? Some tracks contain a certain The Style Council touch, at least when speaking Café Bleu-period quality, a nostalgic tendency also found on his most recent predecessors. And generally speaking, it's a well-balanced album soothing in blue and misty colours of softness that nevertheless still welcomes you inside with the impossible mix of musical aristocracy and working-class appeal and with a strong sense for stylistic diversity without losing one bit of coherency. On top of that, the melodies stand next to one another seeking your attention - it's simply filled with strong songs and already applies for the title as one of his majors. Impressive, that's what this is, and naturally highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com, 👍The Guardian, 4 / 5, Clash 3,5 / 5, Record Collector 5 / 5 stars ]