Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A grade, 30 Jan 2009
I was kinda getting impatient for a new Cardigans album. It's been a while, but listening to the second A Camp release leaves me wondering just what Nina Persson considers to be her side project now.
Colonia is one of those albums in which you have a new favourite track as each song passes. It's an impressively complete suite that flows perfectly with no concessions to filler at all.
Nina's voice continues to improve with age and the production will suit those drawn to the Cardigans' later efforts. Soft rock with a dark underbelly sits next to some great pop and soul.
It's a shame that Colonia will be largely ignored and Nina forevermore remembered for LoveFool and My Favourite Game. Unless, that is, we the consumers don't allow it to be that way...
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Swedish Bit On The Side, 8 Aug 2009
It seems to be turning into a bit of a Swedish weekend.
You know how it is. You can stand waiting for a Number 8
bus for half-an-hour or more and then three come along
all at once. Having just been blown away by Hello Saferide
Ms Persson and Friends' new album 'Colonia' delivers a
welcome double-whammy of Scandinavian charm.
We are, of course, familiar with Ms Persson's estimable work with
The Cardigans and should be grateful that she can also manage
a little bit on the side with such satisfyingly creative aplomb.
Is it just me or have you, too, noticed just
how much good music there is in the world ?
There are 10 very fine songs (plus one stinker and a briefly irrelevant sonic interlude)
in this collection, bound together by the considerable musical talents of
Messrs Larson and Friskand and a richly talented group of supportive friends,
including the wonderful Joan Wasser on violin and viola and Jane Scarpantoni on cello.
Ms Persson's voice is not a particularly distinctive instrument
but despite her limitations in both range and tonal variation
she pulls off a perfectly pleasant performance.
The quality of the writing carries her through and wins every time.
(I'd have stretched to five stars had it not been for the truly horrible 'My America').
Highlights include cracking opening track 'The Crowning', a worthy anthemic composition
full of wonderfully pithy and bitter observations (not a lady to mess with one suspects !).
The sixties-tinged 'Love Has Left The Room' is a beautifully constructed song.
I found myself imagining what Dusty Springfield would have done with it.
It really is that good ! Ms Persson does a very good job with it too !
'Golden Teeth and Silver Medals', a duet with another notable Swede,
singer/songwriter Nicolai Dunger, is an atmospheric croon-fest not
fatally damaged by her compatriot's tendency to slide dangerously
towards the higher notes in his repertoire.
A worthy soundtrack, no doubt, to all those long dark Northern nights.
'Chinatown' is a perfectly beautiful little song.
"My reflection in the butcher's window isn't me".
It's just this kind of wayward strangeness which
keeps our attention focussed and interest engaged.
Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock.
The epic, almost symphonic, ending is a triumph.
'I Signed The Line' is an uplifting torch-song enriched
by a warm and well-judged brass arrangement.
The dream-like, laconic delivery of final track 'The Weed Had Got
There First' is Ms Persson's finest moment on a very fine album.
A curiously affecting composition which navigates its way
gracefully towards a consummately satisfying conclusion.
Highly Recommended.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous!, 9 Feb 2009
Could this be the best album of 2009 already?
The first album by A Camp was a bit of a neglected classic, an album which popped up and disappeared almost without a trace, but is well worth seeking out. It doesn't really compare to "Colonia" though, as while the debut had some frankly weird and experimental tracks such as "The Oddness Of The Lord", "Colonia" is just gorgeous from start to finish.
Seek out the video to "Stronger Than Jesus" online and if you enjoy that you'll doubtless enjoy the rest, although that particular song is more poppy than many of the other tracks here. If compared to the albums of Nina's other band The Cardigans, "Colonia" is most like the fantastic "Long Gone Before Daylight", such is its sustained beauty and mood.
At first listen, "Colonia" is a wonderful album, and I'm already doubting that anything will better this in 2009. A gem.
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