The Perishers – Victorious
A melodic West Coast sound from this Swedish band,pleasant enough. The title track has a nice chorus which I found myself humming to. Play this one on the CD player in the car,coasting along the LA freeway with the sun beating down.
My Own is a pleasing ambling track with a calm vocal. This one grew on me and I liked it. It does have a melancholic thread to it as well,but in a good way.
Carefree has a lovely tune -optimistic and easy on the ear. Sing it!
Never Bloom Again. This is my favourite one,a bit of a lament,which I always like in a song. For such a happy-sounding band this comes across as a little strange,but no matter. It’s a fitting and beautiful tune.”I’m sure we’ll grow….but we’ll never bloom again.”
Midnight Skies is a track I also liked as its very soothing to listen to,with its gentle guitar behind a pleading folksy vocal, to begin with. I could compare this to Snow Patrol somewhere,with a lovely synth break enhancing the whole, and a chorus of “aah aahs”rounding off,amongst an instrumental climax.
8am Departure has a David Gray-style piano heralding a slow ballad which I found very beautiful.
We’ve all experienced the emotions in this song’s words.”I wish I didn’t
have to go home
I wish I could stay
if just for a day
I wish I could stay.
But the worst part of it all I don’t know when I’ll see you again-I’ll see you again.”
Lovely.
Why does this band’s sound sometimes remind me of The Turtles? On To Start Anew, their sound is very West Coast,nothing remotely Swedish about it at all. A very pleasant song.
Almost Pretty IS a pretty song,quite slow and sad-the instrumental backing is rather better than the vocal, but the lyrics are good.”I wanna stay right here – here are the lights just right…Now it’s you and I ….Just you and me now”.
On Best Friends I can see how this band is Swedish. This is a gloomy one and could be a depressing listen. Another lament to a lost friendship-reflective and a tad miserable and regretful .Not too keen on this track.
Come Out Of The Shade is a little more uplifting,but still with that introspective thread running through. The tune is nice,however this one’s pretty Swedish,and I’m not talking about Abba!
All in all,this is a polished and accomplished album and it should hopefully make its mark on the UK charts somewhere. I would describe this band as a Swedish Snow Patrol.
By Juliet Robertson
