The Morning News

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Currently: July 30, 2011: Weekend http://tmne.ws/d9YZF
197 days ago

Listening • We’re All In

Last week saw the U.S. debut album release, titled Na Na Ni, of yet another group of almost disgustingly talented and natural-sounding Swedish indie poppers. According to their MySpace page, the members of Fredrik carry on the traditional first-name-use-only rule as set forth by their brilliant predecessors and countrymen ABBA, and we see that two of the members are simply going by Fredrik (the others being named Anja, Mikael, Lindefelt, and, on bass, Jerker). Which one would think would become as cumbersome and complicated as having two Jameses in the band James, or two guys named Parliament Funkadelic in Parliament Funkadelic. Only time will tell if it summarily becomes too confusing for Fredrik.

Their music—like much of the music coming from Scandinavia in recent memory—proves their arctic clime’s pop genius. It’s expertly produced, performed, and packaged. The most aggravating (and, of course, delightful) part of all is how effortless they make it sound. The component parts of “Alina’s Place,” the second track, seam together without a string out of place as the music gently evolves in tone and timbre throughout. Pounding (yet somehow quiet) drums give way to finger-plucked guitars, and pan-pipe-sounding woodwinds eventually lead to a closing polyphonic tintinnabulation. The resulting sound is cozy but not twee, dark but not morose.

Fredrik will be touring the East coast in support of Na Na Ni through November. If it hasn’t yet been made clear enough, they come highly recommended. —Erik Bryan, Nov. 4, 2008

» Listen to "Alina's Place" at Quarterlife Party

SHARE THIS • EMAIL THIS • FILE UNDER: ABBA, Fredrik, James, Parliament Funkadelic, Scandinavia

Listening • Knowing Me, Knowing You

I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but ABBA will never tour again. Mamma Mia!, the musical and upcoming film that samples heavily from their back catalog, will keep them happy for the next few years—we can only assume. If there were any life left in “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” Flemish rocker Arno Hintjens sucks out the rest of it. This vampire of European pop music makes me fear for the likes of Daft Punk, Alphabeat, and fellow Europeans likely to have bad cover versions shot across their bows. But this isn’t just bad; there is real merit here. Hintjens resurrects the track for a few moments during which you can ask whether this could ever have been the original. As a footnote to convince skeptics, I will mention that he played a homosexual lifeguard, satirizing Hasselhoff, in a film about sex and camping, taglined “Revolution, football, beer, and frites”. It’s all so wonderfully European, and the delivery is so drawn out; I can imagine hearing it sung in the corner of a French restaurant, after hours, and enjoying it far too much. —Mike Smith, Jul. 9, 2008

» Listen to “Knowing Me, Knowing You” at I Predict a Riot

SHARE THIS • EMAIL THIS • FILE UNDER: ABBA, Arno Hintjens, Covers, Mamma Mia!

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