Pelle Carlberg
Everything. Now!
Twentyseven Records/Labrador
This is the debut record from Edson's frontman and singer/songwriter and, not surprisingly, it sounds a lot like Edson. The groove is still gentle and soothing, the instrumentation simple, the vocals sublimely beautiful, and the lyrics still walk that fine line between sharp wit and tender insight. He's a classic Labrador act - high quality and almost-but-not-quite-too twee - but there's really no one out there who sounds like he does: a Sinatra for the midtempo indie set. At times he's a bit too over the top - "Go to hell, Miss Rydell", a song about repeated rebuffed attempts to contact a reviewer who panned his record, is a funny first listen but grows tiresome after a few rotations. He's got songs about compulsive shopping -- the catchy "Riverbank" takes on buyer's remorse and is considerably more fun musically than "Telemarketing", about someone who "can't say no to a human voice." But it's the empathy with which he inhabits characters like the sad sack singing "Telemarketing" that bring the record its warmth, reached most effectively on songs like "Oh no! It's happening again", which captures that moment when a romantic quarrel escalates into a fight that dooms the relationship, or "Mind the gap", where he yearns to give money to the beggar on the London tube and questions the opportunities his son's school offers that less privileged kids don't get. It's not the perfect album he could make if he'd tone down the silly and stick with the catchy poignant, but it's a very nice listen with high points high enough to carry the weaker songs and a warm glow that goes perfectly with coffee on the cold grey mornings that lie before us.
- Nancy Baym