CD of the Week: Sway

SWAY
"MMM... PREPARE TO BE SWAYED"
(MCA/Norway, 1995)

There isn't really much point in mentioning that Sway was actually a pseudonym used by Norwegian pop artist Espen Lind, two years before his career took off with the hit single "When Susannah Cries" and bestselling album "Red". His real name isn't mentioned anywhere in the liner notes; the video-distorted image of the leather-clad, dreadlock-haired hipster on the cover bears little resemblance to the Espen Lind that fans have come to know and love; and most significantly, the club-borne "techno-pop" sound on this album is a startling departure from everything he's done since.

The subject matter on this album is often raw and explicit, with images of sex and references to violence cropping up regularly. The language is none too subtle, either: the "f-bomb" and lesser profanities are uttered several times. In these respects, this CD seems to have more in common with a gangsta-rap album than a pop-rock record ... the difference being that, taking into account his stable upbringing, he seems to have taken this approach mostly for the shock value (indeed, with the stage name "Sway", it's almost as if he were playing a character). Having said all that, though, I don't want you to think that I'm a "prude" by any means; I do prefer my music "clean", but I buy the uncensored/unedited versions of albums when there's a choice.

I don't want you to think that I dislike this album, either. It does have some enjoyable songs, even though they can't exactly be played on the radio. "Yum Yum Gimme Some" was a popular single in Norway and is a deliciously (and deliberately) cheesy funkfest. "Sweat" is a churning, claustrophobic study in paranoia. "Blast Yer Brain" is a frantic anthem for disaffected youth. There are also interesting earlier versions of "Missing Her Then" and "American Love", which would later appear in more refined form on Lind's "Red" album. At the center of it all is his amazing, multi-octave voice, which was just as flawless and enchanting back then as it is now.

The multitude of instruments, samples, distortions and loops that are layered together in the most bizarre and captivating ways, not to mention the tunefulness of the melodies at their core, makes this album all the more impressive an achievement when considering the fact that the 24-year-old Lind did every last bit of it himself, from composing the music and lyrics, to performing every instrument, to producing the recording. While it's true that this album is an acquired taste, and not quite as easy to grow fond of as Lind's later works, the fact that the album hasn't even started sounding dated twelve years after it was recorded is proof positive of his uncanny natural talent for music.