Espen Lind

Oh, Poster Girl, Poster Girl ... where the flů¢ж are you?!?!?!? Does anyone out there know what's happened to her? I hope she's around to read this, 'cause I know she's as big an Espen Lind fan as I am -- so if anything will get her attention, this post will. Come back, Girl ... we all miss you!!!

ESPEN LIND
"ARMY OF ONE"
(Polydor/Norway, 2008)


"Sweet Love"


One never fully knows exactly what sort of album Espen Lind will put out next ... but then, that only makes it a little more exciting waiting for the CD to arrive in the mail. After the aurally intricate "This Is Pop Music" (I couldn't have written a better review of it than this one here), I was a bit disappointed to find that his follow-up, "April", was a comparatively stripped-down, ballad-heavy, back-to-basics album. Sure, it was good, but I must have been more disappointed in it than I originally realized, because it seems that almost no time at all had passed before his latest release, "Army Of One", suddenly appeared -- although it has actually been three years, just one year shorter than the wait time leading up to "April".

For the first time, Espen Lind has entrusted the producer duties of one of his albums to someone other than himself or his longtime partner, Amund Bjørklund (credited sometimes by himself as "Bluefish", and with Espen as "Espionage"*) -- in this case, Bjørn Nessjø. The result is the most sonically diverse album that Espen Lind has ever released. The use of ukulele (in the single "Scared of Heights" and the opening track "Sea Of Love") brings to mind the relaxing vibe of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of "Over The Rainbow". There's something about "Sweet Love" and "The Music Takes You There" that bring back warm memories of the '80s for me (probably the saxophone in the former, and the vaguely Elton John-like piano in the latter).

Lyrically, the song I enjoy the most at the moment is "Clearly You Are Falling In Love" ... it's filled with rhymes that are clever without being cutesy. There are a few nice ballads on the album, such as "Childhood Fields Of Clover" (if you can look past the Hallmark-card title), the breezy acoustic-guitar number "Nightrider" (nothing to do with David Hasselhoff, don't worry), and the beautiful, almost hymn-like closer, "I Don't Let My Heart Be Troubled".

I've only listened to this CD three times so far, the first time being about four hours ago, but I can already tell this is one of my favorites of the year, and far more enjoyable than its predecessor, "April". It basically reinforces Espen Lind's standing as one of my ten favorite artists of all time, and it makes me all the more curious for what he might come up with for his next album.

*assuming the info I got from the web was right!