The Concretes were the heirs of the Cardigans in the realm of the atmospheric Nordic pop ballads, transposing them to the fragile and ebullient sound of the 1960s, and wrapping them in lush orchestrations that, in scope, went beyond chamber pop and towards a "maximalist" form of pop music.
The many early singles were collected on the anthology Boy You Better Run Now (Up, 2000).
Tracks:
A1 Teen Love
A2 Sunsets
A3 Be Mine
A4 Other Ones
A5 Vacation
B1 Recover
B2 Give A Little
B3 The Jeremiad
B4 Cabaret
B5 Tjyven (The Thief)
B6 Contamination
They matured on
The Concretes (Licking Fingers, 2003), when they had become an eight-piece ensemble.
Tracks:
Say Something New 3:44 X
You Can't Hurry Love 1:58 X
Chico 5:04 X
New Friend 4:07 X
Diana Ross 3:40 X
Warm Night 3:34 X
Foreign Country 1:41 X
Seems Fine 2:09 X
Lovin Kind 5:32 X
Lonely As Can Be 3:27 X
This One's For You 4:33
In Colour (2006) and
Hey Trouble (2007) were vastly inferior.
The Concretes' vocalist Victoria Bergsman debuted solo under the moniker
Taken By Trees with Open Field (2007), a set of lushly arranged
melancholy ballads.
The orchestral sound was made quirky by the juxtaposition of so many
instrumental timbres
(cello, vibraphone, marimba, euphonium, flute, synthesizer, guitar, mandolin,
harmonium, piano, viola, violin, bass and drums),
with many instruments played by producer Bjorn Yttling.
The combination of voice and sparse instrumentation works magic on her
simple melodies.
The languid and dreamy Tell Me employs just a guitar and a drum.
Only Yesterday rolls over a tinkling marimba while the guitar intones a counterpoint reminiscent of Leonard Cohen.
Childish singalongs pop up throughout the album, and they don't need much
more than one instrument. Hence The Legend (just percussion) and
Hours Pass Like Centuries (just piano).
Ditto for a folkish number like Sunshine Lady (only mandolin), which
is emblematic of her naked atmospheres.
She rarely goes for lush melodrama.
Lost And Found is the notable exception, a rousing lament
with strings and piano. Even better is the subtler way in which
electronic effects and psychedelic cymbal crashes intrude in the
solemn Julia, that is otherwise a trotting country elegy.
The most "orchestrated" piece is the bucolic instrumental Open Field,
with a plaintive melody reminiscent of ancient Chinese folk music.
The propensity for Asian melodies is also evident in the closer,
Cedar Trees.
She departs from the warm and unsophisticated mode only
for the agonized chant and surreal arrangement of Too Young,
that gently mutates into a funereal chamber sonata.
The tone of her voice and the melodies she spins evoke the girl-groups of
the 1960s, but instead the exuberant sound of that era is replaced
by the existential spleen of the 2000s.
Taken By Trees' second album
East Of Eden (Rough Trade, 2009) was recorded with Pakistani musicians
playing a plethora of local instruments.
She de facto converted to world-music in the elaborate To Lose Someone
and Day By Day,
and sophisticated arrangements turn Anna into the kind of
cocktail-lounge shuffle that usually comes from pop-soul chanteuses.
And exotic pop-soul is precisely the synthesis achieved by the elegant
orchestration of Watch The Waves.
There are a few distractions along the way that contribute to a less spontaneous
and sincere feeling:
Wapas Karma is a traditional performed by ordinary people;
My Boys is a cover of the Animal Collective's My Girls.
The closer, Bekannelse, is the most vibrant piece. Here world-music
is finally internalized and becomes pure emotional state.
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