Annika Fehling
Album: Fireflies
Label: Rootsy
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.annikafehling.com

Annika's a Swedish singer-songwriter living in Visby, capital of Goatland island; her stock-in-trade is a captivating blend of indie that at times betrays more than a hint of Americana styling. It helps that she's the possessor of a passionate yet tender voice which evokes a strong response in the listener, and that her songs bear the stamp of authority and lived-in experience, also that her chosen musical settings are attractively bright, clear-textured and appealing although never feeling stripped-down in any way.

For her latest album (first since 2007's Visby, Texas - not counting a best-of collection released a couple of years back), Annika has recruited the production skills of Will Kimbrough and recorded in Nashville - and the sound is sumptuous while not succumbing to studio overkill in any way. Instrumentation is never less than interesting too, with Will's assorted stringed instruments (bouzouki, mandolin, guitars) and percussion boosted by Josefina Paulson's keyfiddle and Eric Fritsch's Hammond or pedal steel, also a string quartet on two tracks, while Fats Kaplin, Dave Jacques, Tim Marks and Bryan Owings are among those also putting in appearances here and there.

Will also sings backing vocals on around half of the songs, while Peter LeMarc duets with Annika on the soulful ballad Lonely Love. It's a shame that the quality of the songwriting is a touch uneven - for not all of the songs are entirely well served by their setting (Coming Around Anyhow, for example, suffers from an over-bouncy beat, while Here and a couple of other songs come across as bland until you scrutinise the lyrics closer (as the booklet allows). But Miracle, Stop, Jerusalem Street, the title track and especially the delicately introspective I Know Better (the latter a co-write with David Olney) all provide evidence of the gentle yet knowing nature of Annika's writing, especially when so persuasively delivered by her own singing voice.

David Kidman