Christian Kjellvander:
A Village: Natural Light:
Tapete Records:
LP/CD/DD:
Out October 14th 2016:
It’s a great time to be a downbeat singer-songwriter. The likes of Bill Callahan, Destroyer, Mark Kozelek and Father John Misty have been paving the way forward so that lesser-heard performers get a fair hearing. In the case of Sweden’s Christian Kjellvander, this is a shamefully long-overdue state of affairs. Possessed of an exquisite baritone and an ear of the eerie, atmospheric and the reflective, Kjellvander has been knocking out unsung albums for over a decade, including 2002’s Songs From a Two-Room Chapel and his most recent triumph The Pitcher, one of this site’s highlights of 2013.
Following in a similar vein is this somewhat more eclectic and electric seventh solo-album. A mystical assemblage of acoustic psychedelia and country-rock, A Village: Natural Light is brimming with memorable moments, in particular the brooding opener Shallow Sea and the rousing Midsummer (Red Dance). The moment when the strings creep into earshot on the funereal Riders in the Rain, the nape hairs spring into life and the lyrics “We made love in the cemetery/ you said, don’t worry baby, they can’t see, they can only feel” seem like old friends.
Ripe for autumnal playback, A Village sounds mesmerising, rather like watching leaf-fall or breathing in open-fire woodsmoke.
8/10