Album of the month : March 2002
DAVID & THE CITIZENS:
" For All Happy Endings "
(Adrian Recordings)
After three flawless singles, David & the Citizens' first album comes out to establish this Malmö quintet as one of Sweden's brightest hopes. It's easy to understand why: their songs offer everything you can expect from music. Rhythm, emotion, melodies, entertainment, it's all in there plus ... that little extra, the undefinable touch of magic that places them above the average good bands.
From the very start, David and C° have confused critics, drawing comparisons with artists as different as Beck, Belle and Sebastian, Tom Waits (!) or The Rolling Stones (!!). One might as well say that these guys sound like nobody but themselves. Actually, you may find distant links with The Violent Femmes for their unpolished approach and bowstring tension, or with Bristol's Brilliant Corners ( remember the C86 crew ?) for their resident trumpet player and their ability to hide gloomy lyrics behind breezy melodies. But the most accurate connection here ( rather obscure for non-Swedish people, I admit...) would be companion bands like Hell On Wheels and First Floor Power. David & the Citizens are not as resolutely pop-oriented as the first one, and not as loose as the second. Most of all, neither Hell On Wheels nor First Floor Power display such a wide range of different styles on a single album as The Citizens do on " For All Happy Endings", cementing it all with their peculiar sound and unusual line-up ( acoustic and - occasionally - electric guitar, piano, melodica, trumpet, bass and drums). The main tracks from the three previous EPs are all included, and for once, no one will complain. I haven't got a clue what the lyrics of Now She Sleeps In A Box In The Good Soil Of Denmark are about, but the title alone is evocative enough to bring you in the midst of a Lars Von Trier drama. With David's tightrope vocals lashing over a rustic acoustic background and frantic rhythms, this is a deeply moving piece which sticks in your brain and heart from the very first listen. Perhaps not as thrilling but nonetheless impressive, I've Been Floating Upstream Since We Parted, the first track I heard from the band, is maybe the one that most reminds of The Violent Femmes. Introduced with upright piano hammering and edgy rockabilly drums, it goes faster and faster, driven by David Fridlund in great sneering mood and mad keyboards neighings, with that kind of rough live-in-studio energy typical of the whole record. Released shortly prior to the album, Pink Evening, the third single, is a nifty jangly pop song enlivened with elegant guitar arabesques from the rare and precious Alexander Madsen : The Citizens on their most poppy side. Some records are built around the singles that preceeded them and fail to offer much more. On " For All Happy Endings", they're only here as topnotch appetizers : more goodies are yet to come. Belly Full Of Butterflies, for instance, bounces all around with ( faint ? ) merriment, adding a banjo and an harmonica to the band's line-up. 4th Of July starts as an aching acoustic ballad, with more David Friedlund's quaverings, before suddenly turning into some kind of unexpected New-Orleans jazz session. Song Against Life, another terrific uptempo number in the vein of I've Been Floating Upstream rocks like hell, while the soft Hanging In The Air rolls gently at chugalong speed over an understated canvas of guitars, melodica, and tremulous trumpet, echoing David's voice. But none of these great songs come close to the pristine beauty of Divine and Something Not Sunlight. The former is a throbbing ebb and flow affair that bursts in sudden fits of anger, and climaxes in a chopping-up electric guitar uproar. The latter, a superlative melancholic number underlined with touching melodica licks and toy-piano clinkings, shows Friedlund at his most moving, his voice literally flaking off into pieces while he delivers another of his typical abstruse yet stangely affecting lyrics.
The album closes with the title-track: a lucridous anthem played by The Citizens All-Stars Marching Band. It's out of key, it's simultaneously very happy and very very sad : it's just wonderful !
DAVID & the CITIZENS:
ADRIAN RECORDINGS
http://www.adrianrecordings.com
Mailto:info@adrianrecordings.com