Sing me a song, Sologne

I wrote earlier about the opportunities still available at Tower while in its last days. While stocks thinned as the week wore on, prices declined to the point where one, if so willing, could just buy anything that looked interesting. Willing, I was. For less than $2 per CD, it was a chance to find something I would have never otherwise heard.

Hence, how I found Loney, dear - my favorite band of the moment. In fact, it definitely deserves a spot on my best of 2006 list. I found it abandoned in the L section of Tower Tyson's Corner around 3:00 on its last day of business, somewhere among the remaining stock and with an IMPORT sticker on the sleeve. Marked $23.00, I paid somewhere around $1.80 for it - which seems nothing short of criminal at this point. I don't know why I picked it up, but the cover art looked promising and the name (which I misread as "Lonely, dear") and title were intriguing.

Loney, dear is really a one man band - the concept of Swede Emil Svanangen and done on a sparse do-it-yourself budget. I don't know that I've ever heard something as remarkable as his debut, Sologne. Just...wow.

At times, the songs pulse and move with danceable beats adorned with full horn arrangements. Harps spring up in stereo, with synths interlaced effortlessly to create pads to flesh out Svanangen's higher end tone. Svanangen weaves his pieces together flawlessly, turning his bedroom guitar tunes into fully realized, near-symphonic arrangements. As a balladeer on "A Band," he pleads as he croons, leading like an actor on parade. That voice sits at the helm; his raw, emotive delivery ensure the success of songs like "The City, The Airport." Like few others I've ever heard, it is not only a masterful DIY recording but also a truly phenomenal piece of songwriting. Simultaneously sad and hopeful, but delivered with such an intensity that you can't help but to nod your head along, you're left wondering whether to smile or to cry. Proving his versatility, "Take it Back" is a charmingly forward thinking take on a simple love song, uplifting with its bold melodies and vocal style.

I am totally blown away by this record.

If what I've read about it is true, and Svanangen did this by himself with largely limited studio resources, then this is one of the best things I've ever heard. Imagine what might happen if you crossed the Bee Gees with the Arcade Fire...and added in some Radiohead-esque melancholy and the Decemberists' sense for theatricality. If that makes any sense. BUT HE MADE THIS IN HIS STUDENT APARTMENT! BY HIMSELF! I just can't even fathom...

A headphones album if there ever was one, Sologne is a true achievement. It will be dropped in the States on Sub Pop. We should be so lucky.

Now forgive me for leaving, but I have to go and listen to it again. And again. And again.

Addendum: I just came to learn that the album that will be released by Sub Pop will drop in February of 2007. From what I can tell, it is a new album titled Loney, Noir, and features a more full realized studio effort. "I Am John" is the single they're pushing off of that...and well...this is going to be the huge indie band of 2007. No question about it. Justifiably so. Unbelievable. Hopefully Sologne will see a release date in the States as well.


Sologne
The City, The Airport
A Band
Take it Back

Loney, Noir
I Am John