Christian Kjellvander - A Village: Natural Light

  by Richard Lewis

published: 30 / 9 / 2016

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Review

Hamburg’s Tapete Records is fast becoming a label with an impeccable roster of talent and a guarantee of quality, with many respected, often cult, artists having pinned their colours to its mast in reason years. The likes of Robert Forster, Bill Pritchard, Lloyd Cole, The Monochrome Set and Martin Carr all now rub shoulders with recent signing Christian Kjellvander, a Swedish singer-songwriter. Despite having been involved in bands for over twenty years and having, since 2002, released half a dozen solo albums prior to 'A Village: Natural Light', I must confess having never come across his beautiful and beguiling music before. Musically Kjellvander brings to mind a mixture of a softer Nick Cave, Tindersticks and the underrated Cousteau and would certainly appeal to fans of any of these artists. His songs are lyrically subtle often introspective affairs that draw the listener in like the warm glow of a country pub on a winter’s night. The stunning centrepiece of the album is the magnificent ‘Riders in the Rain’, a heartfelt reminisce of past love. Elsewhere, ‘Dark Ain’t That Dark”, the hypnotic 'Midsummer (Red Dance)' and closing song ‘Gallow’ are also worthy of note and highlight just what a special talent Kjellvander is. I’m certainly going to check out his back catalogue and suggest you do the same.

Track Listing:-

1 Shallow Sea
2 Dark Ain't That Dark
3 Midsummer (Red Dance)
4 Riders In The Rain
5 Misanthrope River
6 Always With The Horses
7 Staghorn Sumac
8 Good Child
9 Gallow

Band Links:-

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

Label Links:-

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