Before I start waffling on about how magnificent this album is, let me just get this out of the way. This is a serious contender for my album of the year call. Dare I call it five months early? No, I dare not, but it is just so so good from the first to the very last note.
Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden with Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn and John fame, Blasko’s third record sees her perfect the sound she has been playing around with (very successfully, I might add) on her first two records.
The record is coming from a very sad place most of the time, but it doesn’t feel like a sad record. Blasko is (or was) obviously reeling in a broken heart, which she has churned out and spit out in a refreshing spin on it.
Lines like “When I’ll be there, I’ll be there/I know I sound confused” in ‘All I Want’ and the bitter refrain of ‘Is My Baby Yours’ are just two examples of the different emotions Blasko manages to convey throughout the record.
A personal favourite is the rejuvenating pop of ‘Over and Over’, which is filled with a quirky brilliance that is wound up with a couple of lines from Talking Heads’ ‘Road To Nowhere’, which seems to fit in as naturally as if David Byrne had written it just for Blasko.
Her sense of melody is none more apparent than in ‘I Never Knew’, a haunting tune that is lush with strings.
The album is meticulously planned, but still feels natural and free and most of all every little note has a space. Sarah Blasko and producer Bjorn Yttling make a great team and together they have made an original and wonderfully revealing record.
Track listing:
Down On Love
All I Want
Bird On A Wire
Hold On My Heart
We Won’t Run
Is My Baby Yours?
Sleeper Awake
No Turning Back
Lost and Defeated
Over and Over
I Never Knew
Night and Day
