SARALUNDEN.BJRKS.MJS-DUBIOUS
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The new
branch of the nexsound imperium NSPQP stands for nexsound-popmusic. I does
not say so anywhere, but I am sure. Actually, it says that it stands for pickup,
but I dont know what that means and my version makes more sense anyway.
Because the first two releases on this new segment of the label (this one
here and the duo collaboration of Saralunden with label co-leader Andrey
Kiritchenko) are definite steps away from the exciting noise-avantgarde /
free improvisation / electroacoustic stuff you were used to. This 5-song EP
starts with harmonious, almost jazzy singing over acoustic guitar and has
just what I said before: songs. With chorus, structure and melodies. Nexsound
itself calls it more accessible and I think they do not mean in terms of
distribution, but in listening. And those are also worth listening to. And to
listen to deeply, with concentration and mind open, just like you were used
to before. This
threesome collaboration has Saralunden and Kyrree Bjцrkas as singers
and songwriters and Andreas Mjцs adding production and electronics.
Now, before you form an opinion, forget all you know about electronic
songwriter music, all of the Roisin Murphy-danceshit and also all of the Beth
Gibbons-patheticness, and most of all all of the polished to death
Kosheen-overproduction. Think of the most intimate experience you had in the
last three months (or three years, whatever suits your lifestyle) and then
try to remember how those long, late night conversations went, when the music
had faded out, the bottle was almost empty and you knew that even the days
and weeks ahead could not and would not destroy the memory of the feeling you
had. This memory of that feeling is what makes up the main mystery of these
songs. Maybe the
fact that Bjцrkas and Saralunden were at one time a love couple that
was seperated by the distances that part Stockholm and Oslo plays an
important role in the melancholy and nostalgia seeping through these songs
and low, sad melodies. To me it feels as if you can hear the cold wind of the
Scandinavian plains sweeping through the songs. Bjцrkas sings in a
smoky bass while Saralunden completes him with a mysterious higher voice that
is soft and strong at the same time. Each of the five songs seems to have its
own inner enigma to be solved. Only the last on, Murder, falls out of the
structure. While the first four songs have them singing every line together over
various kinds of percussionless music, the last one not only peruses a
distinctive drumbeat but also has them duetting properly, with a kind of
call-response scheme. Like a postmodern Lee & Nancy electronica murder
ballad. There is
always a certain strange and dark sense field lurking underneath the songs.
That is a give away right from the beginning, when the easy listening doobie-doobie
turns not into Sinatras doobie-doobie-doo but into dubious. It is the
kind of atmosphere that made David Lynchs Twin Peaks so fascinating and
irrestistible in the first few shows. The songs themselves also dib into
these kinds of personal obsessions. I lie naked in my bet / imagine you are
there only to go on stating that I couldnt help myself / when I first saw
you / I had this instant urge to make you mine (from Naked in my bed) –
to hear words such as these from a female / male voice combination in this
tonality gives the whole song a fascinating twist. And the other songs all
hide one or two of these moments of epiphany or dark enigma in them. A definite
favorite for 2007. |
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Sara Lundn r
produktiv. I samband med slppet av 'There was No End' - ett
'indie-tronica-projekt' skapat tillsammans med Andrey Kiritchenko - kommer
ett annat samarbete under namnet SaraLunden.Bjrks.Mjs. 'Dubious' r
drygt femton minuter aningens svrbestmd musik. Lttjazz med
electronica-anknytning och suggestiva sm drag av trip hop. Nrmaste
referensen jag greppar efter r faktiskt 'Svrt att sga nej', den gamla
duetten mellan Bo Kasper och Lisa Ekdahl frn slutet av nittiotalet, frnsett
de elektroniska inslagen: Unison sng av kvinna och man, ttt intill med
luftigt komp. Inget som tippar vrlden ver nda, men avgjort ganska
trevligt. Frfattare:
Sara Axelsson |
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Dubious is
the second EP on Ukranian imprint Nexsound by Sara Lundn, but with different
companions. This time Kyrre Bjrks (Det r jag som r dden) and Andreas Mjs
(or Mjs, in Norway, Jaga Jazzist) join in to put Lundn's vocals in a
different context. Vocalists Bjrks
and Lundn met in Riga at an exhibition and later in Oslo she fell in love
with Kyrre's voice when he was singing It's A Wonderful World by Louis
Armstrong. There they decided their voices should work nicely together, and
they do indeed. They sometimes even sound like a Scandinavian version of
Serge Gainsbourg, specifically the EP's closing track Murder takes the form
of some dark "Gnsbrg" duet. Not so much the southern heat of 'I'm
so horny I can't sing', but a more northern, icy approach that's in no way
less exciting to listen to. Their voices are paired with hush and subtle
electronics and acoustic sounds by all three, where Mjs's contribution is
instantly recognizable if you are familiar with the music found on imprints
like Smalltown Supersound and Rune Grammofon. Nexsound PQP
is the sublabel on which more palatable music than Nexsound normally releases
and Dubious shows indeed a very listenerfriendly approach. The tastefully
arranged dreamy pop brings to mind excellent bands like Pram, Broadcast and
the British duo Mono (who made one great album called Formica Blues and are
not to be confused with that postrock band). Less friendly is the length of a
mere 15 minutes which leaves me aching for more! Rating: 5
out of 5 Martijn
Busink |
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