29th October - Frida Hyvönen's Silence is Wild

Artist – Album: Frida Hyvönen – Silence is Wild

Released: 29^th October 2008

Sounds Like: Swede soul music

 
Bugger! Bugger bugger bugger. It seems that in my eagerness to listen to Pulp I clean skipped a day! Silly me. Still, first time it’s happened in 303 days, that’s not too bad a record I feel… Today’s post is for yesterday, yesterday’s has been updated to today (haha, make sense??):
 
The thing is, this is hardly a forgettable record. There may be a large number of singer-songwriters out there, but there are few like the kooky Swede Frida Hyvönen. Blessed with a gorgeously icy voice (best heard on this Judee Sill cover), Hyvönen writes personal lyrics, stuffed with poetic imagery and extended metaphors, and crafts them around her basic piano-led music. When it works, it is marvellous – album opener ‘Dirty Dancing’ is easily the strongest of the set (and actually one of my favourites from the whole year), weaving a tale of two past lovers who are reunited years down the line around a ‘Be My Baby’-inspired chorus. The album doesn’t always hit those heights (and the wailing chorus of ‘Highway 2 U’ is almost comical), but each song is likely to have something of interest: from the seemingly autobiographical lyrics of ‘My Cousin’ and ‘December’ to the bustling tribute to our capital ‘London!’, a city she has a real love-hate relationship with.  
 
‘Birds’, despite sounding a little unfinished, might be the song that indicates the direction Hyvönen will head to next, as it shuns the piano and embraces a more electronic sound. The lyrics too become more repetitive and less convoluted (i.e. more like a pop song), and in all it feels like the least solo effort on the record. Then again, trying to second guess a singer as individual and unique as Frida Hyvönen is probably about as clever an idea as posting that bloody Pulp post yesterday.
 
Albumaday... rating: 7/10
 

1.       Dirty Dancing – 4:06

2.       Enemy Within – 3:48

3.       Highway 2 U – 4:09

4.       London! – 4:03

5.       My Cousin – 2:57

6.       Science – 3:32

7.       Scandinavian Blonde – 2:05

8.       December 4:05

9.       Birds – 2:50

10.   Pony – 3:05

11.   Sic Transit Gloria – 4:08

12.   Oh Shanghai – 5:42

13.   Why Do You Love Me So Much – 3:12

 
Listen to ‘Dirty Dancing’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLiLCAq3zLk

Also released on 29^th October:

2003: José Gonzàlez – Veneer

18th September - Björk's Selmasongs

Artist – Album: Björk – Selmasongs

Released:  18^th September 2000

Sounds Like: My First Musical

Analbumaday… isn’t the first stupid boy project I’ve taken on over the last few years. I’ve taught myself to juggle and play harmonica (although not at the same time), hitchhiked to Morocco, and attempted to learn conversational Spanish and Italian on various occasions. I once drank (enjoyed is too strong a word) a pint of mild in 60 different pubs in the Nottingham area over the course of a month. I’ve watched/played/listened to practically every all time greatest films/television episodes/games/albums/songs list I’ve stumbled upon, and still have an insatiable appetite to watch/play/listen to more. One such list was Empire Magazine’s 500 5-star movies, which I progressed through last year in a bid to force myself to watch some classic oldies; those black and white flicks that you know are supposed to be good but somehow never get round to viewing.

One of the more surprising films registered in that countdown was Dancer in the Dark, a 2005 musical featuring Björk, about a factory worker called Selma who hides from her friends and family the fact that she is going blind. The film splits opinion – Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian said that “screen acting doesn't get much more dire than this”, whilst renowned reviewer Roger Ebert was effusive in his praise. The soundtrack to the film, by Björk, received more universal praise, averaging 76/100 on Metacritic.

Personally, I found it slightly disappointing. The film was colourful and endearing, but these qualities didn’t translate as well on the album. ‘Overture’ starts things excellently with a suitably dramatic orchestral piece, but far too many of the following songs dabble in clichéd musical conventions. ‘I’ve Seen It All’ holds immense promise as it is a duet with Thom Yorke, but even that suffers from disappointingly childish lyrics. Still, ‘107 Steps’, the piece that soundtracks Selma’s tense walk to the executioner (*SPOILER ALERT*), slightly redeems things, and the closer, ‘New World’, is emphatic and strong.

The film wasn’t bad in my book, but it’s certainly bettered by others featuring unlikely heroes that have an obsession with musicals (Wall-E for one). Similarly, the album, whilst not a failure, just doesn’t quite hit the heights of Björk’s other great works.

Albumaday... rating: 6/10

1.       Overture – 3:38

2.       Cvalda – 4:48

3.       I’ve Seen It All – 5:30

4.       Scatterheart – 6:40

5.       In the Musicals – 4:40

6.       107 Steps – 2:37

7.       New World – 4:25

Listen to ‘New World’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqnL6ie_FTw

28th March - King Creosote & Jon Hopkins' Diamond Mine

Artist – Album: King Creosote and Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine

Released:  28^th March 2011

Sounds Like: Cardigans, bushy beards, and neeps and tatties.

Contentious decision time – rather than Houses of the Holy from hard rocking titans Led Zeppelin, I’ve opted to listen to Diamond Mine, a low selling, low key collaboration by Scottish troubadour King Creosote and ambient producer Jon Hopkins...

Personally, I was absolutely enamoured by the pair’s sketches from Scotland, a collection of songs that evocatively brings up images of stone wall cottages and cosy pubs in a fishing town in Fife. The album begins with a barely heard welcome from a bonnie wee lass and the muffled sounds of a shop counter transaction. Brian Eno-esque piano chords provide a sparse backdrop. The lightly strummed guitar don’t make an appearance until the second track ‘John Taylor’s Month Away’, a song much more in the style of typical KC (KC rules OK?). His lilting, softly accented croon captivates. And the album follows that pattern from there on in. Ambient, atmospheric break is followed by lovely acoustic ditty, follows ambient break, follows acoustic ditty. After just over half an hour, we finish with the last few notes of gentle coda ‘Your Young Voice’ and we’re transported back to our real lives; in my case, the charcoal grey skies and tall buildings of Manchester.

It goes some way to show the high regard that I hold this album in that i haven’t crow-barred into this review as many national stereotypes and clichés as humanly possible, as I did for Frenchies Air, the (not actually) Canadian Neko Case and St Patrick’s Day. Och aye the noo indeed.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       First Watch – 2:37

2.       John Taylor’s Month Away – 6:32

3.       Bats in the Attic – 3:43

4.       Running on Fumes – 6:36

5.       Bubble – 5:35

6.       Your Own Spell – 3:51

7.       Your Young Voice – 3:17

Listen to ‘Bats in the Attic ’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAt4sk8znk4

Also released on the 28^th March:

1973: Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy

8th Jan - Sia's Some People Have Real Problems

Artist – Album: Sia – Some People Have Real Problems

Released: 8^th January 2008

Sounds Like: A coffee table album about coffee tables

Some People Have Real Problems is really not very cool. Released on the Starbucks owned label Hear, on first listen it recalls the likes of Norah Jones, Adele or a tame Amy Winehouse. The presentation itself is unappealing, the scribbled Paint-esque cover appears forced, and even the title comes across as strangely juvenile.

Within the first few bars of the impressive ‘Little Black Sandals’, though, all this is forgotten. Sia possesses a wonderfully faltering voice, already showcased on work with Zero 7 and Massive Attack, and, for the majority of tracks on this album, she has found the ideal sound for it. The majority of the tracks have a jazz-tinged piano sound and there’s an enchanting blend of playfulness and sincerity to the album.

Stand out tracks include the aforementioned redemptive opener ‘Little Black Sandals’, the expanding ‘Electric Bird’, and Kink’s cover, ‘I Go To Sleep’. Unfortunately there are a few duff notes nestled in amongst the captivating Mom-rock. ‘Academia’ and ‘Playground’ both feel as though Sia is pushing the crayola persona too far.

Overall, it feels like Some People Have Real Problems is a decent album with some extraordinary highlights that is likely to have been ignored by the world at large.

Albumaday... rating:   6/10

1.       Little Black Sandals – 4:14

2.       Lentil – 4:27

3.       Day Too Soon – 4:24

4.       You Have Been Loved – 4:23

5.       The Girl You Lost to Cocaine – 2:40

6.       Academia – 3:16

7.       I Go to Sleep – 3:47

8.       Playground – 3:29

9.       Death by Chocolate – 5:03

10.   Soon We’ll Be Found – 4:21

11.   Electric Bird – 4:26

12.   Beautiful Calm Driving – 5:02

13.   Lullaby – 4:35

Listen to ‘Electric Bird’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8gjjz3LThA