Meadow Music

About voices then. There are singers you admire and who impress you by their sheer power and/or range, and/or technique – the vibrato, that awesome wailing…but whom you never quite manage to embrace because they lack something else, something less easy to define, if it’s not simply enough the feeling I’m fumbling for, it’s as if they know better than most how to do it but never really grasped the why, so to speak (Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Carola, Tommy Körberg, although these examples are only generally valid and are of course based entirely on my own personal listening; the listener not being altogether unimportant in the field of song and music, after all it’s in hers or his ears and head it’s all happening, or not happening if you will…)

Anyway, on the other side we find those singers most voice coaches would regard hopeless, or “storytellers” rather than singers, but who according to their fans are the really stylish ones, because they sing with so much more than diaphragm and lungs and vocal chords, artists that in an instant can lose themselves in the words and almost mystically make them live. No matter where they went the night before they always instinctively know why they’re singing and therefore can’t ever fail (Dylan, Björk, Lundell, Hellström; well yes I know they too stumble every now and then but allow me some generalization, footnotes are so dull).

Then a few rare voices just are all nice and natural, voices to somehow lean back and heal in, more about hunches and identification than power or impression; it’s not as if you know them – you are idiotically sure that you do.

There it is, I believe I’ve managed to nail some small part of the fascination I’ve felt ever since I first heard Miss Allena a few years back. We’ve never met but she’s my best friend and my sister. Welcome to the family!

Here are two of my favourites, one in that inimitable missallenish swenglish, and one with lyrics by Nobel Prize winner Pärre Lagerkvist, who in my mind finds his final interpreter here. And don’t forget now to enjoy those ingenious minimalistic arrangements as well!

Var är den djupa glädje som jag söker?
By the Water

Visit Miss Allena and listen some more:

Miss Allena on Myspace

Although bordering genres that are almost overloaded these days, with a lot of skilful bands that resembles eachother a little bit too much, In Bloom has definitely found their own way.
A grunge feeling is mixed with nice melodic refrains, but what makes them unique is the sound. The guitar base is lightly disted acoustic guitars, performed by the singer and songwriter of the band, Pär Eriksson, which renders a certain nearness. This feeling is also enhanced by sensitive arrangements and good lyrics.

The band released their debut album, “With Faded Lights” in July on Blue Topaz Recordings , and I’m proud to be able to present two songs from the album below, “Somewhere” and “Succeed”.

The video for “Somewhere” (and yes, according to sources, it took quite som effort to sing and run at the same time ;-))

Somewhere
Succeed

In Bloom’s home page

In Bloom on Myspace

Joshua Homme, from Queens of the Stoneage, has run a music collective called “Desert Session”, since 1997. Musicians, mostly rock musicians, gather in the desert for a few weeks at Joshua Tree, and make music together. The results are published on a record named “Desert Session”. Among the bands and artists that have participated you’ll find Monster Magnet, Kyuss, Soundgarden and many more! A band that Joshua should invite is Dollface!

The music that Dollface delivers is a well composed rock music, that attracts me using nice Les Paul carpets and guitar melodies that floats on top of it. The vocals are very professional and with a great presence.
Listen to “Bad Boy”, which presents some kind of arranged chaos, and the first time I heard it I thought that they wouldn’t be able to sort it out…but what a great song it is!

I don’t know if it’s the band that’s behind the arrangements or if it’s the producer Henryk Lipp.  Lipp, a producer that, among others, has worked with Thåström, Sator and Håkan Hellström.

Some songs to enjoy and download:
Bad Boy
Anything Goes
Life

Visit the band:

Dollface official site
Dollface on Myspace

Keep cool,
Jeppe

(translated by Pär/Blindmen)

“Heaven Sent”, the new album from Victoria Lagerström, is fascinatingly beautiful and filled with different emotions. It strikes me how big the sound is, even though the arrangements are basic.

It also strikes me how carefully each song has been produced, where each track has it’s own characteristics and feeling. The arrangement is created after the principle “less is more” and guided by what the song has to offer, and not according to a common band setup.
And on top of this, Victoria’s soft soul-jazz voice, like a young to midaged Joni Mitchell.

I’m sure you’ll understand what I mean when you listen to the songs below. “Heaven Sent”, the title track, has a latino feeling, a soft jazzy cornet, a kind of desert ambience which leads into a jazz-pop chorus, like a reply to a later Mecano.

And then there is the wonderful “If I Say Yes” where the jazz influence feels stronger and the relationship with Joni Mitchell shines through even brighter. A soft beautiful saxophone guides the listener from the first chorus to the end.

Listen and enjoy:

Heaven Sent
If I Say Yes

Visit Victoria:

Victoria Lagerström’s home page

Victoria on Myspace

It just happened that way that I’ve seen Jamin Pirnia perform live four times during the last 8 months. Predictable? Boring? Well, nothing could be further from the truth.

Jamin is an artist that is in constant movement. Actually I think he is uncapable of repeating himself. I have spoken to him a couple of times before concerts, and listening to him describing the concert, feels like listening to an artist preparing his next painting. For Jamin each scene is like a unique canvas ready to be filled with new colours, feelings, people and music.

The show changes and develops right in front of my eyes. On one concert he is alone with his piano, the next time he has also a sampler and a friend playing a minimoog. Then there is a band with three members and suddenly there are ten people on stage with a theatrical act going on in front of the stage. Theater, masks, megaphones but also stillness. He fascinates, provokes and invites you to surprises. Some of the songs may be the same from one concert to another and also in his different incarnations as Transparent Blanche, Jamin Pirnia or Jamin’ with Jamin, but the experience is always new.

Maybe the strongest about Jamin on stage is his presence, his ability to deliver no matter what. It doesn’t matter if there are only ten people in the audience, spread out along the walls of a big concert hall, or if there are hundreds of people on a crowded market square. When he looks up after finishing a song, you can sense in his smile that sweet happiness and satisfaction of having been given the opportunity to play right here and now for you.

Enjoy his music by listening to some tracks from his project Transparent Blanche:

Lipstick Killer
Lime
Song of Despair
Ak/not 47

Jamin Pirnia, solo:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDJUeTd0iD0

Jamin Pirnia and Transparent Blanche’s web site

Transparent Blanche on Myspace

/Pär