The moniker under which Swedish songstress Gabi Froden [Twitter/Facebook] releases her music is quite apt, as it describes the kind the kind of material she writes. Slippers suggest comfort and familiarity, and music of this ilk is quite common these days; the word ‘foreign’ indicates something different, new and sometimes exciting. Farewell to the Old Ghosts isn’t just exciting every now and then, however: from its first note to its last, it is an exquisite, beautifully-crafted collection of songs that never fails to bewitch or dazzle. The 12 songs that make up the album are layered compositions, allowed to breathe whilst simultaneously being given an understated atmosphere by the production.
Take the uplifting opener It All Starts Now, for instance; in the hands of someone else, such a song would be given a needlessly bombastic sound, but the song is well capable of conveying its power without being overly obvious, and the result is something paradoxically subtle and powerful. With a sound rooted in accessibility, she declares on the wonderfully immediate Old Ghosts that, ‘We’re on the right track’. She’s being modest; this album is a lot better than that, showcasing a rare talent. Enough has been said about how Sweden produces a breathtaking amount of great music, but Froden’s work is cut from a different cloth to the norm.
She knows how to structure an album, that much is clear. Her debut moves effortlessly between different moods: the introspective Two People in You finds her dipping into the darker side of herself. She says that she ‘writes a lot from her life without knowing that’s what she’s doing’, and there is an overtly personal air to songs like The Two People in You and Avalanche (though the latter moves from brooding verses into an bright, major-key chorus, dispelling the gloom somewhat), indicating that she’s also well aware of how to structure a compelling narrative, Then again, she does write children’s books in her spare time, so perhaps that’s to be expected.
Her melody-writing skills are quite finely-honed as well; the largely acoustic Island keeps it simple with a gentle and poignant guitar riff for three minutes before gradually starting to build toward something much bigger. All this adds up to the album sounding supremely confident from start to finish, no matter how vulnerable Froden’s lyrics are. She asks, ‘If you had another chance, would you take it?’ on Throw the Lot In, but it’s obvious that she took the first one she got. All sorts of moods and themes are explored on an album that tries to be many things, sometimes all at once, and pulls everything off with aplomb. Farewell to the Old Ghosts has come out of seemingly nowhere to be one of the most noteworthy album releases of the year.
Farewell to the Old Ghosts will be released next week on Adventures in Gramophone.
It All Starts Now:
http://soundcloud.com/pictureh_music/foreign-slippers-it-all-starts
Avalanche:
http://soundcloud.com/pictureh_music/foreign-slippers-avalanche
When You Feel the Fear:
