Stina Nordenstam

"The arrangements on the album are spectacular, clearly the best in her career so far. The string quartet pieces are definitely one of the main attractions for me, it's almost as if she is reinventing "Dynamite" in neoclassical form. "

What I find interesting is that despite this reinvention it still sounds a lot like Dynamite (only without such an explicit post-punk vibe) or a more melodic, big budget version of People Are Strange - you'd think that with such a strong string quartet presence and so many jazz affectations the music would sound much closer to, say, the fuller pieces on And She Closed Her Eyes, but i think in the last ten years Stina's honed her arranging skills into such a distinct and purposeful weapon that she now rarely if ever sounds like she's performing in a particular style or genre.

Also, the press release says this is an upbeat record but in truth it is, as one would expect from Stina, a deliciously melancholy affair.

Dynamite did this too, for all its grinding, and my favourite tracks on that album are similarly the ones that feel like they could go on forever - the title track, "Almost A Smile', "CQD", "Down Desire Avenue". Listening to that album agian, what leaps out at me right now is how the guitar is actually rarely particularly physical, for all its buzziness: it's the grain and the texture of that dirty guitar sound that Stina's focused on. The guitar is actually the most "soundscape" like aspect of the music, allowing the strings and the slow-groove rhythms to give the songs body and momentum. I think this is part of what makes them sound so compelling - the songs sound like they've been sculpted out of raw material, rough-hewn rock. The World Is Saved shares that feel, although it's softer, perhaps earth and clay.

That's exactly why I feel Dynamite is the more pertinent comparison for The World Is Saved, even though it's soft-focus and easy on the ear like This Is...: most of the time, when the melody and the voice and the instruments all gel, there's a real sense of musical unity, whereas with This Is... youwere always aware of the disparate components to each song. Which I suppose goes back to what you were saying about Stina's arrangement skillz - I can't remember if she produced Dynamite or not? Even the most This Is...-esque song on The World Is Saved, "Butterfly", sounds very natural, while the best songs - "Parliament Square", "From Cayman Islands With Love" just take that to another level.

I actually expected This Is... to be more pop than it turned out to be (as I only got it about a month ago, if that) - "Lori Glory" is a big exception obviously.

Yeah "On Falling" is marvellous, although I think I probably adore everything except the last track (and even then I like it).

I think The World Is Saved will actually help me fall in love properly with This Is - I think my first few listens to the latter were fringed with nervousness that Stina seemed to be moving away definitively from the things I loved in her earlier work, whereas now I can appreciate it for what it is.

Stina's the indie hangover from my pre-pop days!

Oh, you have to hear And She Closed Her Eyes. If you find "Lory Glory" unusual wait till you hear her do upbeat love songs! "Hopefully Yours" and "Something Nice" - both really beautiful. It's a gorgeous record actually, a bit jazzy and folky but not as slight and genre-bound as Memories of a Colour. I can understand why it's a lot of people's favourite. The hushed harmonies in "When Debbie's Back From Texas" alone are enough to die for.

I just listened to This Is and it sounded solidly great for the first time. I like it when ILX can change my reactions like that.

Stina's delivery of her lyrics has always been exquisite - possibly something to do with the natural pitch of her voice being one which is more normally associated with drama and high emotion, but the timbre being very deadpan and low-key. I can't think of anyone else who does deadpan in such a high pitch.

Speaking of vaguely elfin-sounding divas: has Anja Garbarek done anything since Smiling and Waving?

"The World Is Saved" too, but I suspect "Dynamite" first and foremost.

Who else is making records remotely like these people?

And he raises a good question - who is making records even remotely like Dynamite et. al.?

No North American release planned as far as I know.

*grousegripe*

Dynamite is the one other album of hers I still don't have, I think.

Good lord no. (Had I ever fallen to an eBay addiction, I would be in a sorry state.)

Honestly I had no idea this was Brett Anderson until you told me. I still barely notice him on those two tracks. "Everyone else in the world" is easily one of her best song.

I have a bit of a soft spot for "This Is", because it was my first Stina record, but it does seem a bit too self-conscious in places. I have a feeling the bsides were kicked off the album because they were over 3 minutes long. I do love how the cheap MIDI saxophone riff on "Lori Glory" is nearly morphed into something meaningful by Stina's downtrodden vocals. The same transformation happens with the cheap synthesized acoustic guitars on Michael Mayer's "Slowflood" (although that is more due to the arrangement).

"This is" also has Brett Anderson sounding more dignified than 90% of his material post-Dog Man Star.

"And She Closed Her Eyes" and "Dynamite" are two of my favorite albums from the 90s.

B-sides? I didn't even know there were singles! What are the b-sides like?

I went back to This Is... and Dynamite last night and fuck me, they're both superb.

People who like those might like a lot of the darker songs on Lhasa's The Living Road album, although Lhasa is pretty much the opposite of Stina vocally.

People who like those might like a lot of the darker songs on Lhasa's The Living Road album, although Lhasa is pretty much the opposite of Stina vocally.

well, which is more accurate?

I used to love Dynamite a lot, and it really hit me hard in, oh, 1999 or so when I first found it. Since getting into TWIS, I'm less enamoured, somehow. Maybe it's just less striking now. It's still a phenomenal album, just less monolithic, I guess.

re: vocals, yeah, it's a constant understatement. she's developed it over time, too; Memories of a Colour, while still nowhere near the operatic grandstanding Bjork is famous for, is much more conventionally expressive. She's become more deadpan with each album since, I think, and it's worked better and better, maybe less so on This Is....

The new(ish) album is fantastic. That is all.

Great reading.