around dusk
you walk the seven blocks to paradise

Sorry Kristin, for not listening to this when you gave it to the world just over one month ago.

and throw your arms around it

But, but.. it’s got a drum machine on the chorus, which leads to a wonderful play-off with the organic sounds of guitar, piano and voices: turning it from a typically reflective song into something more commanding, yet it still aches. The last seven seconds burn.

part of the cattle call to harmony

One of the (perhaps unintended) side effects of this periodic release of music is that each song now births its own universe. Unencumbered by what was released previously each can have its own style and reference. If you don’t believe me on this – check out Morning Birds.

at dawn it breaks
but much too late to wreck the night
we spun a silken effort
wrapping the day in softer company

Around Dusk (Download page)

More overtly electronic than Firefox AK’s debut, although that could be an illusion, If I Were A Melody throbs with a minimalism that demonstrates maturity and confidence. Andrea Kellerman’s voice is still duplicated or chorused as before, but this time the musical backing allows the vocals to distance themselves even further from the tunes, leading to some kind of musical capacitance, a tension that is rarely broken. The combination is almost perfect, but these missing connections and they way the melodies skirt around their obvious progressions and conclusions can sometimes prove frustrating, but on this second album we’re getting closer. Close enough to make it better than perfect. I think.

Once I Was Like You teases with two beginnings (breaks, actually) which when Andrea’s voice drops in, blend to form something more recognisable as the Firefox AK sound and is one of the many highlights of the album.

If I Were A Melody – Klicktrack
If I Were A Melody – iTunes UK

Continuing this year’s unofficial theme of Scandinavian Songwriters, here’s El Perro del Mar. Not the usual electroni-tastic wares I usually peddle, instead something which so obviously draws from the 50s and 60s. Sounding simultaneously hyper-elated and incredibly despairing, El Perro del Mar’s hypnotic self-titled album rushes by in just under 33 minutes. Sarah Assbring’s follow-up, From the Valley to the Stars, is due to drop later this week in Scandinavia, and in May in the UK.

Official Website
El Perro del Mar – iTunes UK