Kristofer Åström
Black Valley EP
Startracks/V2
His somewhat delayed new EP starts off very strong, with the vocal energy in "So much for staying alive" carrying the listener through the fingerpicked guitar and beautiful organ lines. However, the energy of that track is lost with the second track ("Black Valley theme") on the record being an instrumental, and it's kind of out-of-place on a four song EP (thus making it only three tracks with vocals). While the final two tracks ("Finally home" and "The blackest pond") are great songs, I feel as if they'd flow better on a complete album. Overall, the songs on this record are good, but it's lacking as a cohesive unit and I feel as if this is only a teaser for a new album.
- Matt Giordano