The first rock riffs cut like a sharp razorblade through all veils of distance that was present before I started to listen. And so I enter Lars Clevemans new album “Voices In My Head”, a record that was released yesterday.

And Lars deserves the attention he gets as I continue to listen. It’s a real album, twisting and turning, surprising, going inwards and outwards. And yet it forms a whole with Lars Cleveman’s special voice. And special it is. First I come to think of Iggy Pop and his special expression in the seventies albums, but here with a different voice. Lars’ former partner in Dom Dummaste, Håkan Soold, is backing him with his Plastic Pals in the first half of the album, where the crescendo comes in “Not Your Friend”, a catching, direct track where my Iggy Pop-vibes are in a way confirmed.

In the second half of the album another colleague from Dom Dummaste joins in: Lars Clevemans special companion Martin Rössl. And the direct becomes more subtle and thoughtful, and shifting. More contrasts where electronica is mixed with rock, darkness with light.

Lars Cleveman is, interestingly, also a celebrated opera tenor with a long row of successful performances during the years, both in Sweden and in other countries. With this knowledge, with this album and with his background in Dom Dummaste and many other projects, I can’t help being fascinated by Lars Cleveman. What is it that makes him move across old barriers so effortlessly?

Jonas Almqvist, from The Leather Nun, has said about this abum that “This may well be the most important Swedish record of 2009.” Maybe he will be right, I don’t know, but you can listen for yourself here in a couple of tracks. If you’d like to listen to more tracks from the album, you can visit Lars Cleveman on Polythene Records.
You can also meet him on Lars Myspace page and on Polythene’s Myspace page.

Not Your Friend
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