Reviews
Irene
Apple Bay
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The Swedish pop scene is receiving more and more applause from everywhere else in the world over the past two or three years. This has a lot to do with the genius of Labrador Records' music in general, which keeps charming the public; I was personally introduced to the label through the band The Radio Dept. in the year of 2003.
There's actually something quite amazing about the Swedish pop scene, something that's not quite possible to find in other countries; it's probably being a matter of culture. Johan Duncanson from The Radio Dept. said in a recent interview at Guardian Unlimited "So much indie music in America and Britain these days is very male, very urrgghh. Dirty, smelly, heterosexual music. We're less about getting drunk and more about sitting with friends, playing around with keyboards and guitars, finding different sounds and textures -- making something exciting for ourselves". And I don't see why he would be wrong when you look at things as they are.
Irene is one of those bands coming from Sweden that fits this wave of bands that provide happy pop music, with all sorts of instruments and cheesy lyrics, referring to twee pop most of the time. The music is often very childish -- naïve like a kid's mind -- but so overwhelmingly happy that you can do nothing but enjoy it. In the same department as fellow band I'm From Barcelona, Tobias Isaksson (aka Bobby) wrote songs by himself and decided to invite his friends to participate, and that's how Irene started…
When I first put the CD in the stereo at home, my brother said "Hey, this is Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, right?" I said it wasn't. Then he mentioned the name of Jens Lekman…oh well, the guy's voice is very similar to both, and he was actually right about that.
For a person like me who has been listening to 95% of Labrador Records releases, there was of course a sensation of déjà vu that came to my mind directly with this album. Irene brings all the things that their influences do, and they use them really directly except the fact that there's certain 60s feel that others don't have. And this would here be essentially the only difference to find with the standard Labrador pop. So let's synthesize: here we have happy music for happy people, regular hand clappings, love songs, brass, choirs, horns, tambourines… nothing else could be more predictable from the common Labrador band.
The album Apple Bay is actually featuring 12 songs for a total of 24 minutes in length. That means you will probably have the time to listen to it all while eating breakfast, which isn't a bad thing if you consider the fact that 1:50-long songs don't have time to experiment very deeply, so they are getting straight to the point. Yay! A quick burst! The lyrics are very cliché and easy all the time, but at least you won't need to think for ages about what's happening, right? And that's the way bands like Irene are meant to be.
Labrador Records have kept on signing up-and-coming pop bands from Sweden in the last few years, and a certain sound has been developed and sometimes improved -- and sometimes, ripped off more or less by the bands on the label. Irene is one of those who sound a lot like the others, and people like me who have been following the label's direction during the last year will be disappointed by this release and will find it redundant most of the time. On the other hand, if you have no idea of what I'm talking about here then you should listen to Irene. You will probably enjoy most of it, because it's fun music if you put it aside from everything else. Irene is the type of meal that you will enjoy when you have no idea what other meals are, to take Dan's expression. Songs To Hear: "Stardust," "Little Things (That Tear Us Apart)," "Cold Feet," "Baby I Love Your Way" If you like Irene and see the potential of this type of music, then check out Labrador Records and see for yourself that this label is godlike. They've got everything to please the most critical pop lovers.
Score: 6
- Alexandre Poulin