Christian Kjellvander - The Pitcher

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 4 / 12 / 2013

---

Sweden's answer to Lloyd Cole, Christian Kjellvander certainly has the voice, the timbre and drama appeal to be a contender. Equally as well, you may consider Christian Kjellvander to be the bastard son of Nick Cave and Tracey Chapman. The sturdy orchestration on his fifth LP 'The Pitcher' has a pastoral sound, but, due to the album's heavyset nordic dramatics, it is nearly obliterated in well-worded self-pity and easy-on-the-ear self-righteousness. It is as if by virtue alone that Kjellvander's epic folk rock music has humbled itself. 'The Trip' and 'The Field Before' (because of its toreador trumpet )in particular as a result are fierce melodies of Scandinavian stature. The twang flamenco riffs on 'The Valley' through vulnerable meandering lead on to 'The Island', which features even more fingerlicking acoustics and string orchestrations. 'The Pitcher', however, just about stays abreast because of its exquisite melodic and vocal versatility. With a bit of luck, 'The Pitcher' might pave the way for a new understanding of Swedish music in a similr way that once Abba did. Simply put, the Swedes out-English the rest of Europe once more. The melodies and words to Christian Kjellvander's new album on a few occasions capture lines from John Fahey's instrumentals and even then still relate to the over-orchestrated likes of Burt Bacharach. Nearly immaculate and almost impossible to distinguish from a recognised evergreen, 'The Zenith Sunset' - equally brittle and brash for example - shows the underlying enchanting quality in this tempestuous folk rock album. Caught on a slur, 'The Pitcher' reveals Kjellvander to be a gentleman, a master guitar player, a gifted singer-songwriter ànd a conductor. A raw gem of an album.

Track Listing:-

1 The Mariner
2 The Zenith Sunset
3 The Trip
4 The Woods
5 The Field Before
6 The Crow
7 The Valley
8 The Island
9 The Bloodline

Band Links:-

http://www.christiankjellvander.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ChristianKjellvanderOfficial

Label Links:-

http://www.tapeterecords.de/
https://www.facebook.com/tapeterecords
https://twitter.com/tapete
https://www.youtube.com/user/tapeterecords/videos

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson

Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart

Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Nige Nudds
Philamonjaro
Richard Lewis
Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steev Burgess
Steve Kinrade

Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg