Club 8
The boy who couldn't stop dreaming
Labrador
It's usually the first record you hear by a band that remains your favorite, but Club 8 have reached new heights with their sixth outing. At it's worst, it's as good as anything they've done before. At it's best, it's more complex, personal, and compelling. The band have extraordinary credentials in a certain genre of laid back Swedish indie. Their singer Karolina Komstedt was in the band Poprace, as was their songwriter/instrumentalist Johan Angergård, who is also busy in his other bands The Legends, The Acid House Kings, and behind the scenes at Labrador Records. Club 8 is distinguished by the contrasts among Komstedt's ethereal voice, which is astoundingly pretty without ever being cloying or affected, their melancholy lyrics, and a sound that is simultaneously gentle, dark and uplifting. On this record they all shine. While the lyrics grapple with relationships that don't work, fear of mortality, questioning God, inappropriate drug use and rural desolation, the music is relaxed and airy. Her singing has never been better and the production has never made the instruments sound this good. The total effect is akin to aloe vera for the soul; it soaks in, soothes, and somehow sets things right. It's chill without the snores, twee without the cute, and sweet without the toothache.
- Nancy Baym
