WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the EIO40 community is being introduced to new sounds by discovering what music others are listening to, whether fresh off the shelves or something from the past that may have gone under the radar.
“Community Recommends” is an opportunity for members to write about an album or song that is a particular favourite of theirs and would like to share to the wider community. So have a read. You might like what you hear.
In this edition @Dalliance68 introduces us to …..
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NORTHERN PORTRAIT “Criminal Art Lovers”
‘Criminal Art Lovers’ is the debut LP from Danish four piece Northern Portrait. The group was formed in 2007 and released this LP in 2010 on Matinee Records. It’s remained one of my favourite albums ever since.
It kicks off with ’The Munchhausen in Me’, glorious layers of chiming guitars with a vocal reminscent of Martin Rossiter with a bit of Morrissey thrown in. The guitar style that runs through the album is arpeggioed Rickenbacker which drives each song. Quite beautiful in it’s own right. Throw in some subtle harmonies and you get the Northern Portrait formula. Don’t expect a different guitar sound as the album progresses, they know what works and they stick with it.
Each song has the perfect mix of upbeat joyful guitar with lyrics which are less so, but as a number of groups have proved in past, this makes for some memorable songs.
Track number number two ‘When Goodness Fails’ is jingle jangle guitar heaven, ‘Crazy’ was the first song of theirs I ever heard and I never looked back. As a single it takes some beating. It grows slowly starting with gently strummed guitar giving lots of room for the vocal, as the song progresses more guitar lines are added until it reaches its joyful finale.
The album is full of lyrics that put a wry smile on your face “I may have lost but I haven’t lost the plot”, “As you walk on by please keep walking”.
‘What Happens Next’ rattles along at a great pace with a lyrics that remind me of some of David Gedge’s (which can’t be a bad thing) “There were times that when I couldn’t bear my own company, but those times changed when you were not there and there’s nothing left to see anymore”.
“That’s When My Headaches Begin’ has one of the strongest vocal performances on the album, one that you can feel the emotion in especially at it’s climax “Listen to the sea as it kisses the shore, like so many million times before”.
It finishes with ‘New Favourite Moment’, by this point I’m normally beaming inanely.
There’s not that many albums that I want to recommend to everyone but this is one. I’m hoping that we don’t have to wait too long before another is released.
[su_audio url=”https://www.everythingindieover40.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/03-Crazy.m4a”]
Northern Portrait “Crazy”
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Thank you to @Dalliance68 for taking the time to introduce us to one his favourite albums.
If you would like to know more about the author then head over to our Meet The Community page, where there is an interview with @Dalliance68. That is definitely worth checking out.
If you would like to contribute to this feature by writing about a song or album that you think others would like, then we would love to hear from you.
