Andreas Johnson
Liebling
Reprise
I think I would have been happier with this CD if I had skipped the videos. I didn’t need to see the smooth pouty rock n’ roll attitude, the pretty boy poses, the overdramatic city shots• the music is melodramatic enough on its own, and on its own, I can enjoy it. Wide and spacious pop that pulls out emotions like water. Touches of Coldplay, that swirling Britpop ache. This did originally come out back in 1999, but this Swedish rock god didn’t quite make the American scene until quite recently. There’s a bit of drifting Americana creeping through the notes, reminding me of Joseph Arthur. Singer songwriter playing with the strings of your heart. Sometimes you need that, and you can feel the music deeper if you avoid the visuals. Make your own movies to these songs.
Reprise Records, 3300 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505; http://www.repriserec.com