Sambassadeur, European

review by dave heaton

Sambassadeur has been one of the most consistent bands on the Swedish indie-pop label Labrador, each record a sharply composed collection of fresh, stylish, synth-pop songs with a romantic tone, the latter quality accentuated by Anna Persson’s vocals. There’s something intimate and airy about her singing and the group’s music. It sounds great loud but pulls you in close.

’Consistency’ can mean ‘sameness’. But they have the capacity to surprise, by filling now-standard synth-pop templates with fresh sounds or a special, big-screen lushness, or by taking a slight stylistic diversion, slight enough to still seem consistent with the group’s tone, but sharp enough to draw attention.

European is their most exciting album yet, and one of the best albums I’ve heard yet in 2010 (I know, it’s only February, but I hear a lot of new music every week, so I don’t state this lightly.) It’s an album I get a rush of positivity from every time I listen to, and which I keep hearing new things in. As best as I can figure, there are two general reasons this album is especially exciting to me. The first is the way Sambassadeur has further perfected their base sound while heightening the capacity for surprise. These songs are lean and carefully put together, every note reaching the right destination. The opening song “Stranded” instantly sets this tone, bookended by a graceful piano passage and absolutely soaring within those grounds.

The second reason for my excitement is the general tone of the album, which is all about pushing through the sad side of life and looking, with determination and without fear, towards what’s next. “Forward Is All”, one song title proclaims. That thrust matches perfectly with the music. It’s not just the uptempo pace and the pretty surfaces. It’s that matched with a feeling of sadness, in the air as much as the words. Because they capture the bittersweet and the fleeting nature of things so well, they’re able to project an optimistic energy in an especially convincing way, one that resonates emotionally.

That pushing forward often seems to have a backstory of heartbreak with it, of hard times that need to be pushed past. Those heartbreak stories, though, are written in a way that the feelings are universal, can be about starting anew from all sorts of struggles and hardships. ”I Can Try” is one superb motivational anthem, full of energy. (“I can try and find the heart / and I can find a way to make it start”, Persson sings.) Another, different in style is “High and Low”. It’s an acoustic wisp of a song, but somehow very forceful, full of internal movement. “Once more we’ll take the risk to fall for all things taking us high and low”, she sings. Like much of the album, it feels like a moment of decision, to stand fearlessly and face the truth. The booming, cinematic “Sandy Dunes” takes that feeling and pushes it outward to the sky, projecting melancholy and hope in one swoop. Like much of their songs (and Labrador’s), it’s also about music itself, about the power of a simple song. The continuum of pop music is an infinite energy flow: “Can’t stop us now / you see / we’ve only just begun / an everlasting song / that’s what it’s all about.”

”Sandy Dunes” feels like the climax of the album, and then Sambassadeur surprises again. The first time I listened to the final song, I was instantly floored, by the great melody and by the feeling that I’ve heard the song before. Then I realized I had heard the song, it was Tobin Sprout’s “Small Parade”, and that the reason I didn’t recognize it was because I never would have connected the two groups aesthetically, and because I wasn’t expecting it. A joyous moment as a listener; indelible. And strangely enough, it seems like a moment of our digital age. In a previous life I would have only experienced a new album by having it physically in my hand, studying the liner notes as I listened. Before hearing any cover song I would have already read that it was on the album. In this case I put the album on my ipod, didn’t study the song titles at all, and had my breath taken away by Sambassadeur, once again.

{www.labrador.se}