Lars Bygden
Album: LB
Label: Westpark
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.larsbygden.com/

Fatea Magazine has a proud tradition of featuring the music of Scandinavia in both its pages back in the day and online in the digital day and it's albums like "LB" that go a long way towards explaining why we do.

I don't know if Sweden's Lars Bygden writes his songs in his native language and then translates them or bypasses that process and pens them straight into English, either way he has the touch for getting his ideas across in an album that seems to combine touches of Americana with the Scandinavian trait of wrapping words into a dark melancholy.

"LB" is Bygden's third solo album since 2008, but he's been releasing for some thirteen odd years, initially in bands like Shades Of Orange and Magic Broom, primarily in his home markets, but it's since going down the solo route that he has really started coming to wider attention and I don't think it's coincidence that this is the album he's stuck his initials against, heck he could have added a full blown signature.

There were times when I felt that if Roy Orbison had had a child with Ingrid Bergman, Lars Bygden may well have been the result. Vocally and soundwise, there is a sparseness that has a bleak coldness to it, but it's not long before you realise that that is not the whole picture, ultimately "LB" is an album that is rich in hope and looking to the future.

This is the album of someone that was trapped in the wilds, crested the rise to see hope and salvation on the horizon and reached out to it. It's not always an easy listen, but it's one definitely worth sticking with because when that click of realisation kicks in, it opens up a brand new vista. "LB" and it's creator, Lars Bygden, have found a sound that does combine the best of Americana and Scandinavia and added a fine series of words and poetry to it.

Neil King