Kristofer Åström
There for / Loupita
Startracks
Two new acoustic-based releases from the Fireside frontman. The "There For" EP is a mostly bare-bones affair with just a bit of string augmentation and not much more. Good stuff, but probably just for people who are already fans. Now "Loupita" is a different story. It's all acoustic as well, but it's much more fleshed out and features plenty of guest vocals from Britta Persson and beautiful slide guitar work from Mattias Friberg of Logh. The obvious point of reference is Iron & Wine for the style and instrumentation, but the recording quality is not nearly as quaint. Well, except for the one home-recorded instrumental track "Loupita #2". At first I was thinking this was going to end up more as a teaser for the upcoming full band album due out later this year, but it is more than capable of standing on its own. As always, the songs are great. There's no question about that, but it's the vibe that takes it to the next level. The atmosphere is so relaxed and comfortable that Kristofer breaks a string on the song "Devil" and they left it on the final CD version. That sort of touch brings an extra sense of humanity and intimacy to the music which is something that can't be manufactured with rack units, mixing consoles or the like. And unlike a lot of stuff I've been hearing lately, the CD gets better the deeper you get into it. The second half (including the Friberg-penned track "I collect knives") is absolutely sublime, right through the end with the closer "Just another lovesong". Highly recommended.
- Avi Roig