Reviews

Artist:Sofia Talvik
Album: Centre Of The Universe
Label: Makaki
Tracks: 10
Website: https://www.sofiatalvik.com/

Born and based in Sweden, but with Americana firmly in her blood, this is her 13th studio album and, of a decided acoustic nature, accompanied by Drake Duffer on mandolin and classical guitar, accordionist Peyton Clifford, Janne Manninen on bass and Joakim Lundgren behind the drums, one very much rooted in social and political issues.

As such it opens with the fingerpicked 6os protest flavoured 'Circle of Destruction' inspired by the Ukraine war and refugees searching for a new life in other countries ("Walking through the desert/Swimming through the sea/Always missing everyone that's left behind") and the seemingly innate nature of mankind to tear everything down with a refrain ("Standing at the border/With a white flag in your hand/Will the peace that we dreamed of ever come") you could hear the young Baez singing.

Opening with mandolin, the slow swaying title track was born from seeing photos of missing children her last American tour ("I watch those faces as I roll my groceries out those smiling faces staring back at me/There are no traces this is all that we have left the smiling faces at the Walmart where we shop"). Lines like "He was fifteen when he ran away from home if you check it out that's what the records say/His mom is certain that at least he would have called/She stops to watch his picture every day" and "She was seven now she would be twenty-five/And I bet she wouldn't wear those earrings now/Who would notice if they took her picture down" are heartbreaking, though she looks to leaven things with hope in referencing Hopi Native American traditions with a prayer that the children weren't abducted but "chosen by a higher power to ascend to someplace better than right here" because "the alternative is way too hard to bear".

Picking a circular melody, 'A World Away' is firmly in the tradition of missing those left behind by the call of the road ("The open road can take me anywhere/But never to where you are") but clinging to finding a way to overcome the distances that keep us apart ("And if the ocean's getting bigger/Then find a bigger boat to sail/And if the road is getting longer Then leave it for the forest trail").

The drums tumbling and an oooh of backing vocals, 'Two Thirds' is about wanting it all, but in a good self-worth way ("A friend once told me/Isn't it enough/Two thirds of the cake … She said if he loves you a little/You can make up for the rest …but all I heard that day/Was a heart so slowly breaking … If there's not enough in me to love/Yet more of me than he would like I'd run for the hills … Honey I want the whole cake").

The rolling rhythm 'Boy Soldier' returns to a theme of children, here those caught in a world of domestic abuse, being protected by their mother ("she keeps a space behind the closet/If it gets bad she can hide you there") or older sibling ("And when your stepdad's really lost it/He'll make sure it's his burden to bear") while, opening with organ and anchored by mandolin, 'Too Many Churches', written shortly after the overturning of Roe v Wade, addresses the issue of religious hypocrisy in the face of a woman's right to choose ("You know Maria was just sixteen/Or maybe fifteen and a half/When someone broke into her bedroom/And tore her world apart/Maybe it was a total stranger/Or someone that she knew/Anyway he wasn't there to hold her/ When that baby was due") and poverty and homelessness ("as I'm driving through the country I see houses falling down/ People living under bridges/But there's five churches in that town"), deftly summed up in the refrain "there's too many churches and too little love/In this world today".

There is, inevitably, a couple of pandemic songs, the first in the shape of 'Meanwhile in Winnsboro' ("If this really is the end/How will you spend it my friend/Holed up in your house/Till you're alone in the world") written, with Spring coming, just prior to one of the last shows in Texas she played before everything shut down and "we could still pretend/This is not the end of the world". The other, which closes things up, is 'Oh California', a decidedly SoCal flavoured track that couples the impending travel restrictions ("I hear that they are closing down the flights and I have people waiting for me there") prompting the end of a relationship as one wants to leave and the other stay ("I always knew that you were meant to go I just did not expect it so soon/With so many shows left to play before going back to California …you said you too had grown tired of the place and wanted to move away from California").

Between times, adding to a very fine album indeed, there's two more broken love songs, the early Joni-tinged folksy rippling 'Desert Nights' ("Oh little love where did you go/Those desert nights can be cold") and the five-minute and equally Lauren Canyon folk coloured fingerpicked 'Broken' ("I wish you'd broken all the rules/I wish you'd opened up that door/I wish you'd gotten in your car/And put the pedal to the floor…I wish you'd gone that day/And maybe then you could have stayed") which speaks of the death of a former musical partner ("Now someone else will play this song/And someone else will cry/You're not here to play along…I hope that they have steel guitars in heaven/I know you'd play them if they do").

If she follows her usual pattern, an unplugged version should be along in a few months, meanwhile this firmly deserves to find a place at the centre if your musical universe.

Mike Davies

Previous	Next
The Kennedys: Headwinds	Rob Jones & The Restless Dream: Trees

Recent Reviews

Center Of The Universe

Fatea Showcase Sessions

The Fatea Showcase Sessions are a series of downloads featuring acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.

Pirate is the current session and features 16 fantastic artists check out the website to find out more about them and download your copy

www.fatea-showcase-sessions.co.uk for all the artist information.

Visit The FATEA Archive!