|
Staff pick of the week...
This week...Jim picks it!
Me,
I'm gonna stick with the Swedes...and why not? The Crystal
Committee
are yet another incredible band from Northern Sweden
(along with The Perishers, The Bear Quartet, Isolation Years,
Kevlar, etc). Admittedly, this isn't instant gratification,
this is a an album to immerse yourself in, close the lid and
wait for the hallucinations to kick in. The band's intoxicating
blast of classic-Brit-Pop-styled guitar-warp and synth-driven
Krautrock propulsion and that influence-distilling Scandinavian
magic puts them in rarified atmospheres up there in the Arctic
Circle. But really what it comes down to, in addition to cinematic
arrangements and instrumentation, is damn good songs. Songs
of every stripe. The opening tracks is a ultra-sensual guitar
mantra for fans of Stereolab and Bright, with a deceptively
simple beat and wondrous harmonies, followed by the rootsy
rollicking "Two Rivers". Halfway through the title
track flirts with the most empowering American indie-rock,
and the enormous "SOS" blends Red House Painters
with Ride-styled guitar-pyrotechnics. Indeed, there are the
loveliest glimmers of a stellar sixties pop, seventies Euro-bahn,
rootsy Americana twang, and a certain Belle & Sebastian-esque
somethingsomething ensconced within these tunes. "A true
indierock masterpiece in the vein of Ride, early Starmarket",
and logically the band features Fredrik (Starmarket singer),
with Mattias Norlamder (Blithe, Komeda), Kristoffer Larsson
(Cobolt) and Pontus Levahn (Starmarket).
The bands lovely debut EP 'Tender Fury' (also available, limited
stock!) released last year is a lush and lively little country
and western epic, from a new breed of Northern Cowboy. Comes
in a equally lush screened cardboard jacket. Highly recommended.
|
