En, Två, Tre

Rickard Javerling - Ice Princess

I can never have enough slow beginnings. I think there's too much finality in music sometimes, and every song wants to sound like the last one. I'm more interested in the quiet admission of hope. There's no need for this to build to pounding drums or blasting horns. A shimmer of cymbal is enough. Each pulse of the organ is a step forward. Each breath of the harmonica a new opportunity. Maybe you might hear melancholy in there, but to me it just sounds like waking up.

So welcome to Monday. Here we are.

I don't know much about Rickard Javerling apart from what I read in his bio. Seems he's a Swede with a love of America folk music...among other things. The album he's recorded, Two Times Five Lullaby, is a thing of beauty. The instant I started it up I knew that I would love it, and I did. It's a crisp collection of slow melodies and pitch-perfect orchestration. Each instrument is recorded so closely you can hear the creak of the accordion, or hands on the harp. Most songs have the lingering whirl of a Hammond in the background.

I'm told the album will be released in America on October 10th, which is just under a month from now. It will be released on the fledgling Yesternow Recording Co., and available from our friends at Forced Exposure. Highly recommended.