Sivert Høyem and the Volunteers
Exiles
Hektor Grammafone/EMI

Madrugada frontman Sivert Høyem closes this second solo album by singing: "I must take to the stage/I need nerves of steel/no matter how weak and how weightless I feel/I just wanted to come across strong." It's an ironic and telling line on an album written just after the biggest year of Madrugada's career. While the songs all deal with vulnerability to varying degrees - estranged narrators desperate for human contact, numbed to that contact, or savoring intimate moments of closeness - the sound betrays no hint of weakness and is anything but weightless. To the contrary, it's heavy, strong, and once you accept its borderline-corny sense of drama, downright beautiful. Høyem is gifted with what's likely the best voice in contemporary rock, and every note on here is sung deliberately and milked for maximum nuance. Fans expecting a repeat of his first solo record "Ladies and gentlemen of the opposition" will find this about as similar to that as Madrugada's "The deep end" was to "Grit" - it sounds very little like its predecessor. Where his first mixed folk with rock and blues for an eclectic set of songs, this is one consistent slow dark march in a minor key. You've got to be in the mood, but when you are, it's breathtaking. Let's hope it sees wider distribution than its current Norway-only release.
- Nancy Baym