Club
8 - Club 8
 Artist:Club
8
Title:Club 8
Catalog#: AHA!024
No Longer available. |
Tracks
on this CD: |
| Love
In December |
| Boyfriends
Stay |
| She Lives By the
Water (Windows Media) |
| The
Sand and the Sea |
| Falling
From Grace |
| Hope
for Winter |
| London |
| Say
a Prayer |
| A
Place In My Heart |
| I
Don't Need Anyone |
| Keeping Track Of Time
(Windows Media) |
|
|
|
|
A breathtaking collection of shimmering baroque-pop, the long-awaited
masterpiece from acclaimed Swedish duo Club 8, the vanguard of
the Swedish independent pop
scene. This is Club 8’s third full-length album and their first for Hidden
Agenda. From the playful Astrud Gilberto romp that was their
debut album, ‘Nouvelle”, to the more Euro-dancefloor-friendly ‘A
Friend I Once Had’, Club 8’s latest is all about mood. Bittersweet
and beautifully arranged popsongs buoyed by supernatural production, with
Karolina’s sensual female vocals, melancholy songs full of elemental sultry
Scandinavian atmospheres (imagine the sea caressing beaches lit by the aurora
borealis, really) and euphoric European allure, with guest appearance on vocals
by Swedish Pop Hero Lasse Lindh. Both Johan and Karolina were in the band Poprace
and Johan is still a member of anorak-popsters The Acid House
Kings.
Club 8 website
This is the sound of hearts breaking… Maybe
yours?
Romantic and creative partners Johan and Karolina
hail from Sweden, the land of meatballs and IKEA. So far, their homeland's greatest
musical exports (ABBA, Ace of Base) have been considered as light and expendable
as that dirt-cheap, self assembled modern furniture. Maybe that's why, a relative
to what they're up against, Club 8 need only a candle, not a klieg light, to
shine so brightly. Whatever sprinkling of cred gently naughty popsters the Cardigans
brought their countrymen, Club 8 extend - though they do it so delicately that
cruder ears may miss their beauty. The twee melancholy of
Belle & Sebastian is tempered here by a bittersweet gravitas and a penchant
for stronger percussion. Their label describes the record as "the sound
of
hearts breaking," but really, it is more the sound of hearts searching,
and as corny as that may sound, Club 8 has actually made the kind of melodic,
lulling record that works equally well for the newly smitten and the recently,
painfully single. From the aching "Love in December" to the quietly
fierce "Falling From Grace," the pair have craved out nearly a dozen
thoughtful, rainswept soundscapes that linger like fog banks in February. Despite
a few moments that dip and sway into a sort of fey self-indulgence, they rescue
themselves with a buoyant hopefulness that more often than not snaps the record
out of its gummy emotional depths. -Leah Greenblatt SEATTLE WEEKLY
The self-titled release from this Swedish pop outfit is a significant downshift
from their previous beat-happy outings. "Club 8" is a study in mood
and texture, songs shimmering like sun on the sea, vocalist Karolina Komstedt
whispering out gentle paens to lost love and heartache. Beats creep slowly beneath
hazy layers of keyboard, guitar parts spilling out spare and fragile. Komstedt's
airy vocals and Club 8's chief asset, and her subdued delivery demonstrates admirable
restraint, her reserve far more evocative than stagey
histrionics. "She lives by the water," is built around a simple three-note
bass line and shuffling percussion and the delirious "Falling
From Grace," the record's most aggressive number, rivals the deep beats
and dour moods of Portishead. And while there's nothing especially arresting
about "Club 8," there lies within its simple structures a sort of funereal
beauty, like a light rain or a slow sunset. The Swedish duo may not command attention
with flash pots and thunderclap, but their grace and simplicity are just as compelling.
-J. Edwards Keyes PHILADELPHIA
WEEKLY
Rating: 7 Who? Swedish duo who include former members of Poprace (and a current
member of the Acid House Kings).
Sounds like: Hushed atmospheres gleaming with '60s pop style and breathy female
vocals, tempered by subtly modern laid-back electronic beats.
How is it? Lovely and mesmerizing laissez-faire music that manages to be sweet
and catchy without being cloying.
Kindred Spirits? Dubstar, Portishead, Trembling Blue Stars
ALTERNATIVE PRESS
Ever experience weather that's both cool and warm at the same time? Well, that's
the sensation that Club 8 radiate- a mix of polar elements, all occurring simultaneously.
Swedish duo Karolina Komstedt and Johan Angergard combine light as fluff melodies
and deep blue sounds with end-of-the-season melancholia, all articulated by Komstedt's
breathy croon: "So you drift / when the days grow cold / away from me /
and won't look back," she sings
wistfully on the album's opening track, "Love in December." This sets
the tone of the album, which is shot through with a burnished Bergman-esque icy
despair. The occasional glistening chorus, as on whispery, "Falling From
Grace" or the trip-hoppy "Keeping Track of Times," gives a sense
of uplift - until you listen closely to what's being sung. Not that Club 8 is
a total downer, but I wouldn't suggest putting it on if you're having a long,
dark night of the soul. -Eliot Wilder AMPLIFIER
In 1996, when Club 8 released its first album, "Nouvelle," various
zines and indie music mags described the Swedish duo's sound as "Astrud
Gilberto gone indie-pop." While the groups' music did indeed bear a resemblance
to Gilberto's atmospheric bossa nova, it wasn't intentional, as the band hadn't
even heard Gilberto's records. Club 8 songwriter Johan Angergard preferred small
local groups to big names.
This influence is even more obvious on Club 8's self title third LP. On which
Angergard ditches his earlier summery lyrics and musical backdrops, aiming steadfastly
toward a winter vibe that recommends staying indoors and warding off the elements.
Luckily, the band's newfound insularity hasn't stopped it from delivering a suit
of compelling, beautifully arranged tunes.
Jill Stauffer SF WEEKLY
A message from Club 8:
This is Johan from Club 8. We're not only thrilled
to have our new selftitled album out on Hidden
Agenda in the USA, we're also
happy that we finally managed
to make a 3rd album at all. It's been a while since we released our last album "the
friend I once had". But for us it's been worth all the wait. This is an
album we can be proud of for the rest of our lives.
You'll find 11 songs filled with jazzy guitars, slow trip-hop beats, analogue
synthesizers and heart-warming, sensual, female vocals. We ended up sounding
like a mix between Leonard Cohen and Air. I hope you will like it as much as
we
do!
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