new music review

Anyway, one good thing I’ve gotten my hands recently is the (American) debut album by Swedish lady Frida Hyvönen, Until Death Comes.

So, sure, it fits in a way into my known preference for cute-via-poignant piano pop a la Ben Folds and Elton John. She also has a gorgeous voice that’ve reminiscent of, say Carole King or Carly Simon. Not every song on the album is an absolute winner, but the winners are winners by a landslide victory.

The lyrics can be trite (there’s a song called “NY” — who writes odes to New York City in 2006? I guess people from Sweden), but in other places they’re biting and beautiful (”Once I was a serene teenaged child/ Once I felt your cock against my thigh/ You said you were a poet/ Man, your poetry wasn’t obvious to me when you said I had the stuff that drove you wild/ But the feeling of power was intoxicating magic“).

“Come Another Night” mimics the Spector wall of sound; other songs hit a vibe that’s merely playful (see “The Modern:” “See, I had made him pregnant/ Our child will be the word/ The new word for the modern/ The second word for love”). None of it is simplistic, though — every song has enough going on to sustain a serious fascination after several listens. Sometimes it’s a haunting bass chord, other times a lonely piece of verse that reminds us the singer, even with her occasional whimsical silliness, is indeed from Scandinavia.

While “Until Death Comes” does have its weak spots, the good notes are good enough to make it an essential, I think, even for people like me who don’t really listen to anything post-1980 anymore. The recording, the arrangement, and the content make the album fit in with anything made in, say, 1971, without making it sound (in most cases anyway) like a retro-chic indie outfit trying to invoke the past. A good album with several great songs, and an artist with a bright future, to be sure. She’s in the U.S. right now but of course isn’t stopping here. Maybe next time, after she releases the near-perfect album that I bet is coming.

Check out the sample media on her website.