The Cardigans are at a strange point in their career. They followed up their global smash hit LoveFool with back-to-back winners My Favourite Mistake and Erase/Rewind setting themselves up as the new Swedish supergroup. But always surprising their listeners by continually taking off in different musical directions, they left the upbeat pop styling behind them and went low-key with the critically-championed but commercially-underperforming album Long Gone Before Daylight. In a way this seems to have freed them up, not having to deal with the pressure of having to follow up a success. So now here they are, back with their sixth studio album, this time not straying too far from their previous offering - perhaps a surprise in itself.
This is a strong set of songs, and as with their previous albums I found each song grow on me with repeated listens. A very consistent offering, they've turned from a singles band to one where you know you can trust them to record an excellent album in full. The band have settled into a mid-tempo middle of the road terraine - a path fraught with the danger of falling into a "boring" hole. I think that what lifts this above other artists are the constant barrage of hooks the songs throw at you, and Nina Persson's quirky lyrics - a fine story-teller. The first single, 'I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer' (best song title of the year?) is a chugging rock song that strangely reminds me of Bryan Adams's 'When You're Gone'. Nina's voice, an amazing instrument, has developed nicely and seems to sometimes resemble that of Sheryl Crow. Other stand-out songs include the ballad 'Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds)', the sweet 'Good Morning Joan', a lighter track necessary to pick the album up from some of its darker moments. One of the two bonus tracks 'Give Me Your Eyes' is a fine pop song, and makes you wonder why it didn't make it onto the original version of the album - this would have been a worthy single.
They have perhaps lost some of the sense of fun that was so obvious on their early album Life and on their hit singles and I suspect that the lack of instant pop songs won't get them back to the top of the charts, but that's fine. Pressure's off and they can go about their business making music that they want to make and stretching themselves as a band. The Cardigans remain one of the jewels in the music industry with one of the finest frontpersons. The sonic direction they take from here is anyone's guess.
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