Review from Bluestownmusic.nl
We had to wait “a little” (14 years) but the Swedish singer-songwriter Svante Sjöblom has released his second album, the successor to the album 'I Guess My Troubles Just Begun' from 2008.
In the intervening years, Svante did release an album, which he recorded together with Filip Jers ("Live At The Victoria" from 2016) and he started working with the Danish string trio Twang and folk artists such as Sofia Karlsson and Sofie Livebrandt, who are both on his own. new album to be heard.
On his new album, Svante alternately sounds very intimate and very soulful. In addition to the aforementioned singers, Svante also receives help from Micke Björk (bass), Marcel Strub (drums), producer Magnus Nörrenberg (keyboards), Thyge van Dassen (fiddle), Bebe Risenfors (piano) and the wind players Ole Akerman (trombone) and Hannes. Bennich (saxophone). Both wind players play a very important and atmospheric role on the album.
They can be heard in a very pleasant way in This Road. A warm and intimate heaving song with vocals by Sofie Livebrandt.
Devil is then a sultry grooving song in which both New Orleans influences like Tom Waits and Ry Cooder seem to have had a big finger in the musical pie. The soulful horn players play an important role in the song, in addition to Svante's gritty vocals and his warm twanging guitar.
The New Orleans sound can also be heard, through the frolicking horns, in the heaving waltz Between My Heart And Yours, with vocals by Sofia Karlsson. The soft soulful Don't Want You Back is a song that could have easily fit into Joe Cocker's repertoire.
Let There Be Light is a pleasantly floating soulful song with the intimate soul organ of producer Magnus Nörrenberg and the bluesy guitar of Svante. The intimate side of Svante is also extensively discussed. For example, Before It Breaks is a very intimate and also very soulful ballad.
In the acoustic I've Been Here Before, Svante sounds folky like Donovan. Thyge van Dassen's fiddle can be heard in the folkie The Good, The Bad & The Lovely. Wrong Side Of Jordan sparkles at you in an intimate way. The horns play a very atmospheric role in the dreamy We'll Heal and the closing track, Burgundy St., is a beautiful tender acoustic song.
Svante Sjöblom's second album more than makes up for the long wait! A beautiful and intimate album!
Bluestownmusic.nl - Peter Marinus