“The Essential” ususally means that someone collects the best songs from earlier album releases. This is not the case with this album, which in fact is Fleet of Clay’s debut album, but fits in the sense that they have collected the best they have recorded during a few years an made an album out of it. And it also fits with respect to the quality of the songs, because it’s an impressive collection of songs.

The album contains 25 songs with music which first of all has it’s roots in the sixties and the beginning of the seventies. Pop, country, folk with vibes from bands like Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y, Beatles, Kinks and others. It’s a classic production with few overdubs except the main instruments, the vocals and the choirs, and there’s plenty of pleasant guitars and good vocals. It’s a pearl of an album, and the song quality lasts all 25 tracks through, where they varies from classic sixties’ pop to cheeky country to fine-tuned folk pop without losing neither themselves nor the listener. There’s a kind of playful self-convidence on the album, that you would expect from a band that has released three or four albums already.

The men behind Fleet of Clay are the three brothers Knut, Erik and Karl Svanholm. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be that active with the band any longer; Knut is working with his band Lobst and their new album, and that’s as much as I know now. There is a Facebook page, though, and on Spotify you can listen to all songs. Here are two tracks:

Everyone Now
The Mist