Artist: Emerald Park
Title: Absolute Zero
Genre: Indie Pop
Release Date: 30th March 2012
Label: afmusic
Album Review
As it was recommended in the press-release to the new album of Swedish Indie pop band EMERALD PARK, you can sit in an armchair, relax after a hard day and put your headphones on to enjoy the musical journey. The invitation seemed promising and actually turned out to be disappointing. My anticipations involved some intense music with great imagery: a journey should be more relaxing and exciting, not just a business trip. The band’s music is so simple as if it played only on a mandolin and acoustic guitars, the rhythm is also far from being intricate and the voice of the vocalist seemed a bit tired and not very rich, though pleasantly low and suitable for tougher music. The songs are rather short; none of them lasts more than 4 minutes. It’s difficult to figure out when a ballad starts if it is any as the whole album sounds like a chewing gum and the journey grows into an endless, dusty road among an imaginary desert full of cactuses. Every now and then you dream that this road would become a bit rougher and bitten, just to feel shaken and stirred, but alas… only the lyrics leaves great space for thought but I would rather not comment on them.
In fact, the defeated expectancy devise is as follows: when we hear the word “Sweden” we imagine either death-metal scene with its traditional heavy sounding and brutal guys dressed in leather, or some melodic family bands like ABBA, ACE OF BASE and ROXETTE, which are the greatest examples of the world’s pop culture. But this very Swedish Indie pop act presents neither maniac depression nor striking melodies or vocal-instrumental richness. Even less remarkable pop-disco-techno projects like E-TYPE sounded catchy and “cutie” than this record, which failed to leave any trace in a soul and heart of a listener. The saddest thing is that the whole thing is not bad, there nothing to criticize. It’s just empty and dull, not absolute zero but still… The length of the record is less than 40 minutes. It’s difficult to outline the audience, but I suppose the band has its fans and so does the genre. Otherwise you can perceive the album while surfing the internet, just hearing something playing as background music.
Tracklist
01. Reality Bites – 3:19
02. Never Say Never Again – 3:12
03. Spain – 4:02
04. Bergsgatan – 4:25
05. Someone to Love – 3:35
06. Things – 3:11
07. The Night I Proclaimed Your Love – 3:58
08. Rear View Mirror – 3:23
09. A Beautiful Mourning – 2:35
10. The Rules of Engagement – 3:06
11. Outro – 2:44
Line-up
Tobias Borellius
Martina Johansson
Frans af Schmidt
Conny Fridh
Måns Katsler
Daniel Jönsson
Mattias Wilke
Website
http://www.myspace.com/emeraldpark
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 5
Sound: 5
Total: 5 / 10
Buy the album here!
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