It's been awhile, but here's some new reviews for you: [click here]
Artists covered this time around include The Charade, Lemonator, Maria Lithell, Red Moon, The Second Band, Viktor Sjöberg, Tigerbombs and the four-way split "If we were oceans" featuring Kristofer Åström, Racingpaperplanes, Boy Omega and Two Times the Trauma.

Maria Lithell
Blessing & curse
Little by Lithell

This classically trained Swedish singer/songwriter has pretty much summed up her own album (her second, I believe) with that title. It's actually sort of a grower; I don't want to start off by criticizing it. Lithell is a thoughtful lyricist, apparently haunted by memories of her childhood and disturbed by the oft-impersonal nature of modern life. In the appealingly honest song "Free society," she sings: "For hours in a row/I've walked these lonely walks/Where everyone's on the phone/And no one really talks/Mobile - but not free/Eyes wide - but cannot see...This progress is no solution/It alienates us instead..." Gosh, I've been waiting for SOMEONE to write a song about the social downer of rampant cell phone and iPod use; thanks, Maria! That's one of the few rhythmically upbeat tracks on this otherwise rather stately, richly orchestrated chamber pop collection. Elsewhere, strings and things dominate, like Marco Chagallo's fine violin on "I'm still me" and the perfect orchestration on "Will I ever learn," a tune where Lithell shows off her vocal range but somehow fails to inject enough emotion to truly put it over. I suppose that's my main complaint: Lithell's technically solid as a singer, but about half these tunes are missing the extra emotional edge that the lyrics demand. Where it does kick in is on the last two songs: "The ice is singing," a hauntingly spare tone poem featuring Fredrik Hermansson's stirring piano, and "Freeze the frame," an undeniably poignant song about wishing you could stay young, eternally enjoying the quiet magic of nature and simpler times. That one might make you cry, but some numbers like the title track and "Bed full of flowers" are a bit bland by comparison. "Have I asked the right questions?/Have I got the answers right?" sings Lithell on the latter tune. Well, Maria, I'd say your lyrical concerns are quite thoughtful and most of the arrangements are lovely. Just turn up the "emote-o-meter" and try varying your vocal approach a bit more, and I'm sure your NEXT record will be an even greater blessing.
- Kevin Renick