Douglas Unger released his second full length album this Spring, “Old News”, seven years after his debut in 2006. If we’re talking genre we land in country rock and American rock land, with representatives like Ryan Adams and Wilco, but I’m also reminded of other icons like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Bruce Cockburn. I think it’s a fine, fully enjoyable album where Douglas makes his personal mark in these well-trodden grounds. The sound is great: close, earthy and dirty, like if we we’re listening to him in a small club, and his voice, which has both ardour and authority, is like it’s made to live out in this music. Definitely one of the best efforts I’ve heard in the genre in the last years.
I haven’t written about the Swedish singer/songwriter Lars Bygdén before, an oversight I of course have to correct. Because if you have created a wonderful album such as his Americana-vibing “LB” from last year, you certainly deserve to be heard. During Spring he also released a video to the album’s starting track, “The Hole”.
It’s a rather varied record with naked acoustic songs to country to songs with a more melodic pop touch, but everything’s glued nicely together with a pleasant, releaxed and warm melancholy, where you can land in a slower tempo, safely guided by Lars’ calm, somewhat sad voice. Enjoyable. Taste here below in a couple of songs.
High Coast, a band hailing from Malmö, released their debut EP recently. On it you’ll find four tracks with earthy, Americana-vibing acoustic music full of nature poetry. “Talvatis”, the song here below, was earlier released as a single, and got it’s name from a lake in the north of Sweden.
Mikael Persson has played in different bands during thirty years, but it took until 2011 before he released his solo debut album “Moving With Mrs. Carter”. After a couple of EP:s he’s now out with the follow-up album “Marks & Bleeds”, an album where he has invited guests as songwriters and musicians like Greg Copeland, Janni Littlepage, Luisa Jordan-Killoran, Citizen K among others.
It’s a rather varied record which revolves around country rock and Americana and Mikael’s dark, laidback and expressive vocals. There’s quite a few excursions with other influences too; I can hear Irish folk vibes, nice power pop-like choruses, the Dire Straits-sounding “St. James’ Park” and a beautiful cover of Yazoo’s “Only You” to name a few. There’s plenty of guitar candy on the album as well as a great sense of sticky melodies, which you have two good examples of here below. The album is available on Spotify and on Wimp.
Everett Parker released his album “Irrevocably Human” last week, a year and a half after the debut EP “Run For the Uppercut”. And I can just state that it’s an impressive album, which you should check out if you’re into classic, storytelling Americana with guitar in hand. It’s always difficult to describe what exactly makes a record like this stand out among many others in the genre. The lyrics are of course important, but the entire set is glowing, from the voice, from the string hammering, from the rough, earthy atmosphere, which has been created with small means. If the last EP felt warm, this is at least one step up and feels red hot.
Meadowmusic presents new music from many corners and edges of the world, but with a strong focus on Swedish music. Listen, read, watch, comment and share the music. All songs you find here on this page have been approved for publication by the artists and labels.
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