MP3: Hell on Wheels - Come on
Ask any Swedish music biz type about Hell On Wheels and they'll probably all tell you the same thing: nicest band ever. It's true, they are probably one of the nicest bands I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Too bad being nice in rock'n'roll gets you absolutely nowhere - it's a good thing that HoW are also a damn fine band. The trio has been honing their sound for quite some time now and their latest record "The odd church" is easily their best work yet. I had some delays getting my copy thanks to the US Dept. of Homeland Security opening my mail, but I've been listening daily since it arrived late last week. (Insert cheap pun about worshipping at the altar of the Odd Church, yadda yadda...) So enough about how nice HoW is, let's talk about their music! The most easy/obvious/lazy comparison would be The Pixies and I think that's a fine place to start. Bassist Åsa provides excellent counterpoint vocal melodies to frontman Rickard's lead when she isn't leading on her own. They don't usually reach The Pixies' heights of bombast, but they don't need to. HoW's songwriting and arrangements are much more intricate and involved. Not that I would accuse The Pixies of merely banging out chords, but How has more subtlety. They pack a lot of meat into everything they do. And don't forget how nice they are.
Hell on Wheels - Come on