You’d be forgiven for thinking you were listening to an album of out-takes from Sufjan Stevens‘ seminal 2005 masterwork ‘Illinois‘ when the fragile baroque pop of ‘Waiting For That Holy Music‘ introduces Norwegian Forsgren’s debut long player. You’d soon realise the error of your ways though, when the thought occurred to you “Well why on earth would he leave THIS song off?”. It is at once both wistful and otherworldly, due to its complex string arrangements and unpredictable harmonies.
Forsgren, for his part, has a voice that lies somewhere between Stevens and Scritti Politti frontman Green Gartside – witness ‘I Need Something New‘ for the undeniable evidence, which surfs upon waves of Chicory Tip style organ sounds and a slightly leftfield yet wholly infectious pop melody. It feels rather like you’d imagine Brian Wilson‘s overly cluttered brain would sound during the sandpit years.
He writes songs which are sometimes a hark back to the more chart-friendly efforts of The Boo Radleys (‘Any Day Now‘ is rather like their misleadingly joyous smash ‘Wake Up Boo‘), and sometimes orchestral and cinematic, such as the eleven minute ‘Tired Of The Sun‘, which ramps up the intensity to fever pitch. Given the crunch and crackle of the low laying guitars here though, it’s difficult not to get the impression that Forsgren would very much have liked to join the shoegaze elite, but doesn’t really have a clue how to.
‘Narcissus‘, aptly, is not without its beauty, but sometimes it loves itself just that little bit too much for my liking. The eerie sounding ‘Still In The Wild‘, for instance, glimmers gently before being bulldozed by a murky fuzz, which in turn gives way to a peaceful rural nonchalance. If anything though, it tries too hard to be dramatic. In truth, it probably succeeds in that respect, but in doing so, it fails to remember that some kind of tune might have been nice too.
Still, because most of what is on offer here is pretty easy on the ear, you’re more inclined to forgive those moments where ‘Narcissus‘ disappears joylessly up its own anus.
[Rating:3]
