Emil Svanängen (Loney Dear) produces charming indie-pop with the fluttering hooks you’d expect from the Swedish pop scene. Jens Lekman comparisons are fairly prevalent on Svanängen’s orchestra-laden efforts, and his acoustic ballads bring to mind Swedish counterparts like Jonathan Johansson or Palpitation. Both Svanängen and Lekman share similarities in their tranquil delivery and dry wit, but Svanängen has yet to fully develop his direction despite his sixth full-length, Hall Music, being his most instrumentally expansive yet. The album did show glimpses of ingenuity on tracks like the swelling “Calm Down” and fragile “My Heart”, which fully showcased his transition from the earlier albums of synths and guitars to a more orchestral arsenal.
Although received with some mixed reviews, there’s no doubting that Hall Music marks Svanängen’s entry point into more ambitious territory, which on several points throughout Hall Music suits him very well. It would be very interesting to hear his recently composed live takes on these. He launched his US tour tonight in Brooklyn at the Rockwood Music Hall, with these dates to follow:
11/03 Brooklyn, NY Rockwood Music Hall %
11/04 Montreal, QC O Patro Vys $
11/05 Toronto, ON The Drake Hotel
11/07 Chicago, IL Schubas Tavern %
11/09 San Francisco, CA Cafe Du Nord #
11/10 Los Angeles, CA Hotel Cafe ^ *
% = w/ Daniel Knox
$ = w/ Folly and the Hunter
# = w/ Harbours
^ = w/ Sleeping at Last
* = w/ Oregon Bike Trails
