Downtown Ramblers
Album: On the Other Side of the City
Label: DTR
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.downtownramblers.com

From Sweden comes this instantly accessible second album from the self-styled leaders of the Nordic Urban Bluegrass lobby. The songs are surprisingly nimble, driven by lithe fiddle and fluid banjo runs, heard to great effect on I Never Planned - featuring Brittany Haas from Crooked Still - while Grammy award winner Tim O'Brien augments Be My Baby Still with some equally effective vocals in duet with Emelie Junsten.

The celebratory opener Singing With the Birds acts as a perfect calling card, although Either Way and the beautiful After We're Gone mine some emotions and This Town flirts with rock 'n' roll in both tone and sentiment. The group started life with a broader musical palette so the album marks a more concerted effort to explore the bluegrass music that unites them. Listen carefully though and there are traces of indie pop, traditional Celtic music and even pure pop as in the harmonies on Let Go and the chord changes in That Ain't the Case. It seems Nordic Urban Bluegrass is a far more subtle beast that one might have suspected.

Nick Churchill
www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk