When an album is classed as being in the ‘cello pop’ genre, you can be fairly certain you’re dealing with something you’ve not heard before. That’s certainly the case with Swede Linnea Olsson’s debut, ‘Ah!’.
Opener ‘The Ocean’ is a lush neo-classical cello solo that melts into your ears. It’s followed by an upbeat title track, loaded with reverb and layer upon layer of that omnipresent cello, while a drumbeat (created by using a Middle Eastern goblet drum known as a darbuka) is sheltered in the background.
It is the cello that defines Olsson and the experimentation with it throughout the album is remarkable. “I sat down with the cello and it was a bit like a flood,” said Olsson of the writing process. Her mastery of an instrument you feel is attached to her dominates and shapes everything, from the staccato picking to create a beat to the controlled strokes and strums that generate the tone and mood of each track. To use a single instrument to create such a deeply moving, authentic sound is a huge achievement and the album is brimming with confidence, and the producer must take credit for giving Olsson the room to manoeuvre.
Lyrically, it’s a dark record, as far removed from pop in places as it is possible to be. “It hurts so much I want to cry, and when I cry it hurts so much I want to die,” starts ‘Guilt’, which uses the controlled plucking to create a jarring atmosphere. ‘All For You’ is more upbeat, and one of the album’s highlights. It’s reminiscent of Illinois-era Sufjan Stevens with multi-tracked vocals and harmonies flooding the track, to borrow Olsson’s terminology. ‘Fortune’ continues the air of melancholy: “You will not be forgotten, I promise I will keep you warm,” sings Ollson.
Her voice is smooth in parts, husky in others, and is faultless throughout, which strangely offers one of the few opportunities to find criticism with what she’s created here. There’s a feeling that had her voice been quirkier, like Bjork’s for example, a different, more idiosyncratic sound could have been created. This is nitpicking, but by stretching her range on lead single ‘Dinosaur,’ the track feels more open, and it begs the question of just what she’s capable of as she matures as an artist.
It’s not very often a truly original album comes along, yet Olsson has created a sound that is hers and hers alone. It’s the sound of sitting back and reminding yourself just how amazing the world can be.
Released October 29th on Götterfunk Productions.
Posted by Kev Scott.
