ARTiST: Thomas Denver Jonsson
ALBUM: The Lake Acts Like An Ocean
BiTRATE: 186kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: Kite Recordings
GENRE: Indie
SiZE: 59.14 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 41min 53sec total
RiP DATE: 2008-05-08
STORE DATE: 2008-03-31
Track List:
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01. Border 2:42
02. My Wardrobe 2:04
03. What I Dream 2:47
04. Only For Beginners 3:11
05. Saved By The Bell 3:25
06. Like Friends Falling In Love 3:12
07. One Of My Blessings 4:10
08. Possession 2:50
09. You Were The Holiday 3:23
10. Tapdancers' Union 1:21
11. After The Earthquake 3:17
12. Sacha Distel 1:46
13. She Runs In Slow Motion 4:36
14. Love Campaign 3:09
Release Notes:
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Thomas Denver Jonsson's third LP suffers from few real problems, but they are
problems nonetheless. The lyrics, though earnest and interesting, are wilfully
frosted and difficult to interpret when held against the musical backgrounds.
When he should be sounding triumphant with his words (over the more
forward-directed musical passages) he refers to intense sorrows. This, though it
could feasibly be a deliberate trick, does not completely convince. And while a
lot of the musical backgrounds are utterly lovely, it's fair to say they could
have been explored, complicated and transformed to something altogether more
whole. 'My Wardrobe' has a delightful chorus and a sense of real freedom with
melodic shapes, but it ends after only a couple of repetitions of the gorgeous
material. Continue on, Thomas, be bold enough to give us more!
But those are the only problems. The most part of The Lake Acts Like An Ocean is
simple, effortless and thoughtful alt-country with the occasional step into
unknown territory. While those steps are excellent (listen to the shanty wash of
organ on 'Saved By The Bell') and there aren't enough of them, the remaining
music is enough to scintillate. The delicate accompanying arpeggios and
hymn-like homophony in the strings of 'Only For Beginners' is perfectly balanced
by Jonsson's quietly mesmerising vocal line. If the whole album were like this,
we'd be hailing it as a worthy companion to the work of Jeremy Warmsley et al,
but one feels there are many more dimensions yet to be explored.
Subtlety is here used as a default, so that strays from it are maximised in
potency. The breeze of 'One Of My Blessings' is so much closer to the middle of
the road (and that is in no way a criticism) compared to anything we've heard
before that it stands out as a freak lunge into the world of radio airplay, but
a gloriously informed one. As soon as it's over, though, the haunt of pedal
steel guitar (used beautifully throughout the record) on 'Possession' take us
squarely back to the obscure territory of before. It is sweet, sweet,
unchallenging music.
But what we need Thomas Denver Jonsson to do is to challenge us. Take it as read
that your audience isn't always made up of bearded introverts and take us on a
trip of pop exploration. You'll thank us and we'll thank you.