Swedish Concretes have a gentle touch
THE CD: “The Concretes In Colour” (Astralwerks)
PERFORMER: The Concretes
WEBSITE: Click here.
SUGGESTED TRACKS: “Tomorrow,” “On the Radio,” “Your Call,” “Sunbeams”
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF…: you’re looking for Euro-pop driving tunes for a summer trip to the Gulf of Bothnia.
Don’t wait for the Concretes to grab you by the shirt and tongue-kiss you. This eight-member behemoth of sugary Swedish sounds would rather do some eye-gazing, keep it gentle then pull the door closed on the way out so as not to wake you.
“The Concretes in Colour,” the group’s latest album (and the first to turn heads this side of the pond) harnesses the finer points of every feel-good, sunshine groove ever composed. The first track “On the Radio” opens with an official Peter Tork staccato that bleeds into a chime-heavy, high treble Wall of Sound a la late-60s pop. And thus it continues for 12 songs. By the end, a drop-top Saab and the sunny plains of Gotaland haunt your dreams.
Catchy, yes, but the Concretes are no mindless bubble machine. A stream of pop tributes runs through “Colour,” oozing a hip, “in crowd” vibe like the soundtrack of an indy film about quirky relationships. Enjoy the raspy patois singer Victoria Bergsman (below) inherited from Nico as you and some friends guess who the Concretes sound like now: Nena? The Grateful Dead? Camper Van Beethoven!? (Ooooo, good one.)
Outstanding songs like the boiled-down “Your Call” and the somber “Tomorrow” leave no doubt about the Concretes’ sincerity or talent. They just happen to have a major sweet tooth.
