EASY OCTOBER – SWEETHEARTS BEFORE THE FALL
SCANDINAVIAN LIGHTS DO IT AGAIN
October in Sweden is an interesting period of the year. The days are noticeably getting shorter, the weather is becoming grayer mixed with a few days of sunshine. Basically, people will have to wait a long time until the days will get beautiful again and all you do is hope for the next sprinkles of sunshine to come, knowing it will take long for spring to come with yet winter to arrive.
The album "Sweethearts Before The Fall“ somewhat stands metaphorically for this. Lost love, feeling alone (Loneliness has always been my one and only friend / nothing should come between us in the end) and the desperate hope for the healing of a broken heart is the dominating theme on this fantastic record (Hello sunshine / you can’t come soon enough to me…I am waiting for the dark to fade / I am waiting to feel the heal)
Kristofer Åström is by no doubt one of the most talented musicians to come across in Scandinavia. Former frontman of the brilliant band Fireside, he released some terrific solo records and was admired by a young striving musician named Kristoffer Hedberg, who – after having issued two records in the Swedish language – was about to start a band to record in English on his own. Both Kristof(f)ers teamed up and together with Nikke Ström who used to play the bass guitar in the in Scandinavia quite popular prog rock combo Nationalteatern and Grammi (the Swedish equivalent to the Grammys) award winner Andreas Kleerup „Easy October” was born.
Sweethearts Before The Fall is already the second record of this supergroup after 2013’s “Things We Said Yesterday”. It is a wonderfully beautiful, very americanaesque folk pop album. And despite the stories it is telling about unfulfilled love and the pain people are going through after a break up, it never provides a depressive feeling, on the other hand it is sending a heartwarming flow through the listener. It is this kind of sadness that makes one feel better and that makes one believe that everything eventually will be alright that the album is sending out.
The distorted guitar on the opening rock n roll song “If I Stopped Loving You” reminds of a heart that is broken in pieces after a break up and Kristoffer Hedberg’s powerful voice is intensifying this feeling even more. “My Love Will Be There Still” – the first single of the album that was released – is a great country song that could have been written by a band coming from Austin, Texas instead of Scandinavia. The Americana element in general is omnipresent on Sweethearts Before The Fall, which is especially reflected in “When Our Eyes Met” or “Blow Out Your Candles”. It is exciting how Easy October is mixing country with vivid indie pop and transferring this sound into the melancholic Scandinavia, making it a very Swedish album.
Kristoffer Hedberg is searching for reasons why relationships did not work out and is regretting too late that they ended (You have been loving me for your years / but of course I had to fuck it up / I gave you a round full of reasons / to turn around and walk away / what difference does it make now?), in “Waiting For You To Come Back Home” he wants nothing more than to get back together with his girl and is misses the times he spent with her (Heaven is so much closer my dear / when you are here). The record is ending with the beautiful piano ballad “Go Easy On Me” and is leaving one with the feeling that life is not too bad after all
Sweethearts Before The Fall is the perfect album to listen to on a cold winter night and sunshine will definitely come back. Not only in Sweden.
Rating:
8 of 10 grizzlies
SCANDINAVIAN LIGHTS DO IT AGAIN
October in Sweden is an interesting period of the year. The days are noticeably getting shorter, the weather is becoming grayer mixed with a few days of sunshine. Basically, people will have to wait a long time until the days will get beautiful again and all you do is hope for the next sprinkles of sunshine to come, knowing it will take long for spring to come with yet winter to arrive.
The album "Sweethearts Before The Fall“ somewhat stands metaphorically for this. Lost love, feeling alone (Loneliness has always been my one and only friend / nothing should come between us in the end) and the desperate hope for the healing of a broken heart is the dominating theme on this fantastic record (Hello sunshine / you can’t come soon enough to me…I am waiting for the dark to fade / I am waiting to feel the heal)
Kristofer Åström is by no doubt one of the most talented musicians to come across in Scandinavia. Former frontman of the brilliant band Fireside, he released some terrific solo records and was admired by a young striving musician named Kristoffer Hedberg, who – after having issued two records in the Swedish language – was about to start a band to record in English on his own. Both Kristof(f)ers teamed up and together with Nikke Ström who used to play the bass guitar in the in Scandinavia quite popular prog rock combo Nationalteatern and Grammi (the Swedish equivalent to the Grammys) award winner Andreas Kleerup „Easy October” was born.
Sweethearts Before The Fall is already the second record of this supergroup after 2013’s “Things We Said Yesterday”. It is a wonderfully beautiful, very americanaesque folk pop album. And despite the stories it is telling about unfulfilled love and the pain people are going through after a break up, it never provides a depressive feeling, on the other hand it is sending a heartwarming flow through the listener. It is this kind of sadness that makes one feel better and that makes one believe that everything eventually will be alright that the album is sending out.
The distorted guitar on the opening rock n roll song “If I Stopped Loving You” reminds of a heart that is broken in pieces after a break up and Kristoffer Hedberg’s powerful voice is intensifying this feeling even more. “My Love Will Be There Still” – the first single of the album that was released – is a great country song that could have been written by a band coming from Austin, Texas instead of Scandinavia. The Americana element in general is omnipresent on Sweethearts Before The Fall, which is especially reflected in “When Our Eyes Met” or “Blow Out Your Candles”. It is exciting how Easy October is mixing country with vivid indie pop and transferring this sound into the melancholic Scandinavia, making it a very Swedish album.
Kristoffer Hedberg is searching for reasons why relationships did not work out and is regretting too late that they ended (You have been loving me for your years / but of course I had to fuck it up / I gave you a round full of reasons / to turn around and walk away / what difference does it make now?), in “Waiting For You To Come Back Home” he wants nothing more than to get back together with his girl and is misses the times he spent with her (Heaven is so much closer my dear / when you are here). The record is ending with the beautiful piano ballad “Go Easy On Me” and is leaving one with the feeling that life is not too bad after all
Sweethearts Before The Fall is the perfect album to listen to on a cold winter night and sunshine will definitely come back. Not only in Sweden.
Rating:
8 of 10 grizzlies