Swedish avant label Compunctio has posted details on their first release, an album featuring pianists Andreaz Hedén and Gösta Rundqvist taking turns interpreting the same piece of music. Sounds incredibly interesting to me, not to mention the fact that they'll be releasing David Åhlén's (nee Namur) solo debut in early 2008. Read more: http://www.compunctio.com/

David Åhlén (Namur) will be working on a new solo album this summer to be released under his own name sometime in early 2008: http://thehourislate.blogspot.com/2007/03/ny-skiva-p-g.html
Gustaf Spetz (Eskju Divine), Krister Linder (fd Dive) and Tobias Åhlén will lend a hand and Andreas Runeson will produce.

David Åhlén (Namur) on tour in the US supporting Bradley Hathaway:

05/24 - Pianos, New York, NY
05/27 - tba, Bakersfiend, CA
05/28 - tba, Fresno, CA
05/29 - The Underground, Roseville, CA
05/30 - Dolores Park Church, San Fransisco, CA
05/31 - tba, Modesto, CA
06/01 - tba, Redding, CA
06/02 - The Revolution, Ashland, OR
06/03 - tba, Bend, OR
06/04 - The Noisebox, Camas, WA
06/05 - Q Café, Seattle, WA

David Åhlén (Namur) will support Bradley Hathaway on tour in the US this coming June. Dates soon!

David Åhlén (nee Namur) has signed with Swedish upstart indie label Compunctio and will be recording a new album later this year. Expect an early 2008 release.

Top 10s for 2006: It's a trap!

Namur's excellent album "Songs from the Valley of Baca" is being offered as a free download: http://www.namur.nu/
If you want a copy of the real thing, buy it here: [click here]

MP3: Ella Rouge - Manhattan

I've mentioned my appreciation of Christian music a few times here and there, but I think some clarification is in order. When I talk about good Christian music, I mean passionate stuff like Namur and Isolation Years or 16 Horsepower and even the Louvin Brothers. It's important to note that except for the latter, all of these acts consider themselves musicians first, Christians second. The mission is to make music, not necessarily spread the gospel, though inevitably their convictions are reflected in the music. Want an example of what not to do? Listen to today's mp3 from Ella Rouge. This is exactly the kind of empty, vapid music that gives Christian rock such a horrid name. If the Holy Spirit moves you in profound ways, the music should reflect that. Hiring a gospel choir to double the final chorus is no substitute for real emotion. The first couple songs on their record aren't so bad - overproduced and generic yeah, but listenable. I probably wouldn't change the channel if they came on the radio. But this song? Terrible. Painful even. Download at your own risk. Some trivia: The band features the vocals of one Ludwig Andersson, son of Benny from Abba. Though technically proficient in every way, I feel his talents could be put to much better use.

Ella Rouge - Manhattan

Interview: David Åhlen (Namur/Father of Levi)

MP3: Namur - Marching

2006 has been an amazing year for dark and dreamy pop and Namur's "Songs from the valley of Baca" is one of the best examples of the genre. You can call it a shoegazer revival if you want, but I think that all the sounds I've been hearing are something completely new and different. It may be a lot of things, but it's certainly not retro. Anyhow, despite releasing one of the year's best albums, Namur mainman David Åhlén decided recently that it was time to retire the name and move on with something new: Father of Levi. Naturally, I wanted to know more, so I asked him why. Read more: [click here]
"Marching" is the one of the only songs on the album that delivers immediate gratification out of context. That might sound like a bad thing, but I assure you it's not. "Songs from the valley of Baca" is very much an album, not just a collection of songs or singles. Each track flows effortlessly into the other and weave together to create a much greater listening experience. It's becoming rarer and rarer to find music that achieves this sort of cohesiveness nowadays in our post-iPod world. Like I said before: one of the best releases of the year.

Namur - Marching

Speaking of Namur, mainman David Åhlén has laid that project to rest and will be continuing on now under the new moniker Father of Levi. Check out a new song on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/fatheroflevi

MP3: Élodie - Overload

A good follow-up to yesterday's post on Under Byen is today's mp3 from Élodie. Both bands are female-fronted and could be considered post-rock by the way they embrace slow-building dynamics. The main difference however is that Élodie is more of a pop band. Where Under Byen is unique for their heavy percussion, Élodie soothes with lush, gentle melodies. It's a shame that their new EP "At the end of the line" is the last we'll hear from them - the band recently played their final show at Trästockfestivalen in their hometown of Skellefteå. If you've been at all into any of the other dark and dreamy pop I've been raving about this year such as Lampshade or Namur, then this is definitely up your alley. Not only is there a ton of similar music in this vein being released now, a very high percentage of it is remarkably good. There's more on the way too - keep an eye out for posts on new music Sonores and The Grand Opening in the near future, both amazing bands (and also both IAT.MP3 artists releasing their first official full-lengths).
Buy "At the end of the line": [click here]

Élodie - Overload

Namur
Songs from the valley of Baca
Thehourislate

The style of music offered up by Namur, essentially the solo project of Sweden's David Åhlén, deserves a good, descriptive name. I'm sick of words like "slowcore" and "shoegaze" to describe this style of heavily atmospheric, churning melancholia. But there may be no substitute for "electro ambient dream pop," the title of a real Yahoo! group. That's pretty accurate, so let's go with it. "Songs from the valley of Baca" is the third Namur release and it's a thing of fragile beauty. Rather minimal, with some fuzzy, My Bloody Valentine-style guitar drone and superb drumming complementing Åhlén's soft, compellingly shy vocals. "Consuming fire" and "Marching" are exceptionally fine, emotionally stirring tunes (especially the keening vocal on that latter track), and again I have to mention the beauty of the drums... clean, loud and hypnotic a la John Bonham. The vocals are mixed almost in the background, like they're just part of the blissful, foggy ambience. "Vesper" is a solemn, beatless song which is deeply melancholy... you'll get as lost in thought as the singer seems to be if you just drift with this wisp of a tune. And "Brighter than the sun" sounds uncannily like Sigur Ros, just a bit less lush; but the textural organ and little snowflake synth flurries are quite captivating. And the vocal's emotive power is doubled here. Rebekkamaria from Lampshade provides harmonies on one track, but otherwise, this is a pretty singular affair, and it's as light as a dream. Very pretty, haunting music worth drifting off to sleep to...
- Kevin Renick

The Hour is Late, the label run by David Åhlén from Namur, has announced the signing of Oplen.

MP3: Red Moon - Nothing there

I don't get a lot of demos sent to me, but what I do get is often surprisingly good. And let me tell you: it's much nicer to be surprised and impressed by a nondescript CDr than it is to be let down by a mediocre, but well-packaged "pro" CD. Red Moon is a duo of two sisters from Göteborg with an incredibly low profile as they've never played live before and have no proper webpage. The music they create is dreamy, ethereal, droning shoegazer pop - not too unlike Namur's most recent album (which I also fell in love with). Of course there's also plenty to link them to genre founders such as the Cocteau Twins and so forth, but I think their Swedish sense of melancholy gives them an extra edge. I've posted the first track from their four-song demo, but I strongly recommend that you head over to myspace to listen to the rest. Very, very impressive!

Red Moon - Nothing there