This is 24 year old Norwegian Dybdahl's third long player. Taking hints from Ed Harcourt and Bright Eyes, the palette from which he paints from is both fragile and weary. "It's always been you" is a heartfelt weepie that features whispered breathy vocals and a gorgeous piano refrain, all drenched in subtle strings. Title track "One day you'll dance for me, New York City" has an underlying country feel to it with a gently picked banjo, whilst Dybdahl's lyrics are concerned with typical outsiderdom. The young Norwegian doesn't anything new or different on this record, he's just a great songwriter.
- Nick Levine
Thomas Dybdahl is a 24 years old singer/songwriter from Norway who looks like a pretentious hipster on his websites. His work can placed within the same category of music that has utterly swamped the Nordic countries the last few years (nowadays, for every Kristofer Åström you get twenty lousy impersonators). These facts alone (combined with the title of the actual song that this review is about) inflamed the prejudices buried deep within me to such a degree that if I hadn't taken a deep breath, sat down, and listened to the song, this review would have been nothing but a deep sigh full of cynic remarks. Now instead it'll read like this: This first single of Thomas Dybdahl's forthcoming album is a lush and gentle affair, with nothing subversive about it, that lulls along nice and quietly. Yes, it's singer/songwriter stuff in the usual way, but it's stuff done in a much better fashion than what I'm used to hear.
- Simon Tagestam
Considering the reputation these guys have for being total assholes, my initial impulse is to rip them apart completely. However, as tempting as that may sound, I'm going to try and stick to the moral high road and tell it like it is. Look - while Mando Diao is obviously nowhere near as good as they think they are, they really aren't all that bad either. "Hurricane bar" is simply a straight-up sophomore slump in just about every way. They've ditched most of the soul and garage-rock trend-chasing and delivered an album that's totally safe and unremarkable, not to mention about 15 minutes too long and desperately lacking in energy. It's pleasant and inoffensive enough that I wouldn't switch the channel if it came on the radio, but at the same time, it's definitely not worth spending money on.
- Avi Roig
Just like people, bands change. It took me a long time to accept the new Weeping Willows sound debuted on their last album "Into the light". Once I got over the shock of change, I discovered a great pop album. Being said, this new albums continues very much in the same almost 80s-pop/rock style, but I think I still need to let it grow on me. There's three or four songs (including the single "Stairs") that are immediately appealing, but I'm undecided on the rest. Good, not great.
- Avi Roig