My only desire

Some pop songs are just transcendent.



(Video/song match is not ideal, to say the least.)

It's probably an overused word, to be fair, and in and of itself it probably shouldn't be taken to mean anything other than a way to say "brilliant," maybe hinting at a touch of class and an ability to draw out a bit of emotion--I'd say make you feel above emotion, like you've shed emotion and are just sort of free-floating--but that's far too cold a description for songs like this.

Swedish duo the Attic, gone from the music scene for far too long without an indication of when they'll return, specialize in dance music with pop appeal. Over the course of one and a half albums, several unattached songs, and multiple remixes, they've helped create more than a few special moments, but "In Your Eyes," a single from 2005, still stands as the song that makes me want to throw around words like "transcendent" and "transporting" with no regard for technicalities, only for the feelings those words stir up.

A lot like the song, actually--on paper, the lyrics read as ridiculously clichéd, trite platitudes that must have been set to paper in the course of two to five minutes, depending on how quickly Michael Feiner and Eric Amarillo can write. Brought to musical life in "In Your Eyes," though, they manage to accomplish that sneaky pop trick of surpassing denotations and even connotations to become beautifully evocative. Evocative--another one of those wonderful flowery words we semi-lazy writers love to use to make our writing sound much deeper than it actually is; with a million possible shades and gradations of emotions to evoke, how is the unclarified word "evocative" supposed to mean anything?

Sometimes that lack of clarity is just what is called for as a descriptor, though. The Backstreet Boys' "I Want I That Way" is incredibly evocative, even though I've heard different people find different emotions and derive different storylines from its conflicting words. The songwriters even played with lyrics that give the song a much more logical throughline before eventually settling on the much less clear but much more evocative version we all know and love.

"In Your Eyes" is, in straightforward words, a synth-filled electronic song with an uptempo backing beat, midtempo topline, and second person lyrics about feeling at home and loved in "your" eyes. None of those words, though, captures the gentle reassurance and life- and love-affirming beauty of the song as well as so-called overused-to-the-point-of-meaningless words like "transcendent." At this point, it's practically a cliché to write about how clichés may be cliché but still have truth to them, but, like a series of ever-reflecting mirrors, I've got to say right back that redeeming the cliché may be cliché, but, every now and then, it's still needed. There's a reason we come back to certain words over and over again--they're the only real match for the beauty we find in some music.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be over here trying to figure out how to work "effervescent" into my next review...whether or not the song actually involves any emission of bubbles.

(This post is half-inspired by Chart Rigger's D'luv and Moogaboo reminding me how much I love All Saints' "Pure Shores." Talk about evocative--the word "dreampop" instantly captures the song better than a post of, oh, say, similar length to this one could.)


(Edit: see more about "Pure Shores" at J. Mensah's.)

Make you smile again

Oh, thank goodness, I'm not totally crazy...

Last year, I was convinced that the version of Måns Zelmerlöw's "Miss America" being played on Swedish radio, at least some of the time, was different from the version on the album--subtly different, just really with enhanced drums, but I was sure that difference existed. Despite all my searching, though, I couldn't find anything to support that information. The only remixes available at the time were definitely not the version I thought I'd heard: they were all dance versions.

I only just saw that American iTunes has a remix by Grizzly, though, and as soon as I clicked the preview button, I heard louder drums but a still pop--not dance--song. That's got to be it. Why it was released to American digital music stores and not Swedish ones, I've got no idea. Bought it, of course, though it's not better than the original (which I really should have had on my singles countdown last year; just a case of taking him and it for granted).

Måns also appeared on game show Så ska det låta last night. If you've ever wanted to see him sing Linda Bengtzing's "Jag ljuger så bra" (!), Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours," Gyllene Tider's "Sommartider," Björn Afzelius's "Tusen Bitar," "Var ska vi sova inatt" (complete with performance that, if not earth-shattering, is at least literally floor-shattering), Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," Frank Sinatra's "Come Fly With Me," you can watch the whole hour long show here. I'm sure clips will be on YouTube shortly if they aren't already. He's such a star. And he knows his international political history! Sigh.

Speaking of Måns, I never linked to one of my new favorite pictures of him or the comic strip that had me laughing for quite some time. I wish I lived somewhere where newspapers would publish comics referencing schlager stars. Oh, and CDOn confirmed that the only difference between the regular and deluxe editions of MZW is the booklet; the songs are the same.

Umm...to make this post seem slightly less pointless, did you know '80s Swedish group Secret Service (of "Flash In The Night") have a new single out? It's called "Different" and was an unreleased song unearthed while one member was moving boxes around.

Speaking of remixes and "Flash In The Night," I went on a mini-spree tonight, buying a couple of remixes by the Attic, the duo whose latest single was a cover of that old Secret Service hit but who quality-wise are one of the most reliable presences in the Swedish dance scene. At the end of 2008, Australian singer Candice Alley had her 2003 single "Falling" remixed by the Attic and released in the U.S. The Attic's reworking of the song suits it to a T, with the plaintive but commercial ballad-ish vocal part from Candice melding well with the fairly gentle dance beats underneath it. The other the Attic-related remix I bought was member Michael Feiner's fantastic remix of Daniel Lindström's "Saturday Night" (which is also not new but I've been meaning to buy from iTunes for some time). The song is much more interesting in this interpretation and, like the Attic's remix of "Falling," manages to be fun dance with some moving emotion behind it.

Fall into my arms tonight

I just got around to reading the description of Danny's new album on Ginza and was thrilled by one piece of information in it. We already knew that Andreas Carlsson wrote and produced "Utopia," that Danny wrote or co-wrote "Turn Off The Sound," and that "Radio" is the work of Michel Zitron (who's said to have done most of the tracks on the album; he's also the writer of "If Only You," among other things), but up until now I'd not known that The Attic--Eric Amarillo and Michael Feiner--also wrote a track on the album! Fantastic news, as well as something I have no idea why I wasn't calling for before--it seems like it should be a natural fit, so I hope it plays out as well in reality as it does on paper.

Speaking of Andreas Carlsson, Sweden now has its very own David Archuleta...only he's just won the whole contest.



(Sorry about the upload quality--the audio's fine, but the video's odd--I'll swap out the video for a better one when one's available.)

I really do love the sound of Kevin Borg's voice, but I'm already envisioning him ending up with an album that sounds...well, a lot like that track repeated over and over again. I hope I'm wrong, as I do love some good boy pop, but right now I'd guess runner-up Alice Svensson is going to end up making pop that's more fun and interesting than him (I'm very interested to hear music from her). Oh well--maybe he'll at least give us a "Crush"-level track. There's no good reason that Sweden, the home of so many brilliant songwriters, should end up giving us a "pleasant-but-uneventful" album like David A.'s as Kevin's debut, but that's what'll probably end up happening. It shouldn't be, though--would it be so much to ask for a bit of effort to be put in?

The Andreas Carlsson connection comes through the track he's singing there--it's the Idol winner song and it's written by Andreas (a judge on Idol this season) and Jörgen Elofsson. I think the teaming up again of two writers who'd given us such pop classics back in the late '90's/early 2000's may have got my expectations to high; ultimately, what "With Every Bit Of Me" is isn't as excellent as the best boy band ballads from that classic era. That said, I've already been listening to it more than I thought I would when I first heard it...maybe that bodes well. Or not.

Shadows of you

Another of the "how did I not know about this?" releases of the past few weeks is the latest from the Attic. They put out two long remixes of "Flash In The Night" a while ago, but in mid-September they finally released the proper radio version (as well as extended mixes), though as far as I know not in Sweden itself. I'm thrilled to be getting new material from them, though, and hopefully this means we'll get the other songs on their MySpace eventually, too. The Attic are brilliant makers of electronic pop/dance/house music; if you don't own their previous album, I highly recommend picking it up (it comes in two versions, both of which I love, but I think I'd have to go for the second version, Remember Tomorrow).

Flash In The Night (Radio Mix)--a cover, but a great one. If you know the Attic sound, this single's sound won't be surprising to you, but that doesn't make it any less great or less welcome. Unlike their Melodifestivalen entry but like the majority of their songs, "Flash In The Night"'s vocals actually come from them (well, one-half of them). Far beyond just doing great remixes, they make original material (and yes, I realize how much this song--which a welcome updating of an '80's song--fits into that category is questionable, but even if you don't want to count it, they've got more than enough songs fully of their own) that's even better, and they do it so well and so easily--thank goodness they're around. Please let them never go away!

To buy the Attic's single "Flash In The Night," go here (digital). Remember Tomorrow (which does not include this song) can be bought here (physical).

Next up: maybe a boy band or one man boy band.