Loney, Dear: Sologne - Album Review

I wish I could start by telling you what the name of the band means. However, I can't.... Sologne, however, is a region in north-central France.

What I can tell you is that this band which is, in the main, the creation of Emil Svanangen is full of very personal songs. The beauty of the album is that Emil has artistic freedom and there are no shoe-horns into any category, style and you feel like this is an album created just as he wanted it. After all he did record it in his home.

The opening song "The Battle of Trinidad and Tobago" has Emil's quivering, beautifully imperfect voice, atmospheric guitars and backing voices building up to a mini-crescendo, then fading out into the distance along with the whistling and the "marching" drums. The 2nd track is another slower number "Where are you go go going to". As the title suggests the first syllable of many words are repeated. Personally I find this annoying, however by the end of the track you have a good idea of the quality coming on the rest of the album.

"The City, The Airport" is a upbeat, catchy tune with chanting, horns, drums, everything. It grows and grows with more instruments and you want it to continue forever.

There is a variety of sound on this album which makes it very easy to listen to all the way through without getting bored.

All in all a very good effort from another of Sweden's exports. True to his own style, this album reflects very well on Loney, Dear.


Loney, Dear website: www.loneydear.com
Myspace Page: www.myspace.com/loneydear