These are the Cardigans who took the world by surprise with their song Lovefool, popularly released in 1997 on the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack. But this cd is the precursor to The First Band on the Moon where Lovefool was featured and the more recent Gran Turismo. In Life, they're still the incredibly catchy, buoyant group that defined kitsch-pop at the beginning of their careers.
I am a fan of Life because of this reason. The songs on this cd - though containing uncomplicated electric guitar riffs and simple melodies - seem to exemplify what the Cardigans have been perceived to be for a lot of listeners: A true pop band with sugarsweet vocals and infectiously catchy grooves. The first track, Carnival, featured on the Austin Powers soundtrack is a great example of this. It reaches the pinnacle of jangly pop, incorporating Nina Persson's vocals laid over each other and a bouncing beat you can't help but tap along to.
Similar songs, like Daddy's Car and Rise & Shine, with Nina using her saccharine voice to its fullest effect, are the highlights of this album. Their more subdued songs, such as Gordon's Gardenparty with its bossanova beats, are still unbelievably happy and earnest: a quality that the Cardigans can get away with but other bands can't.
The Cardigans definitely seem to follow in the tradition of mid-century, American pop whose main purpose was to sound musically pleasing and not out to expose the American government of their injustices, etc. Their point was to make music, not to make a statement. And though I am oversimplifying the Cardigans musical agenda, I think it's pretty apt.
I am not a fan of their newest cd, Gran Turismo, though I like some of the songs on it, like the hard-edged My Favourite Game. That is a side that I would like the Cardigans to explore more, instead of the smooth-sounding electronic music they're trying to develop. I think they've definitely sacrificed a lot by utilizing trip-hop styles to come up with sophisticated, broody, cocktail music on Gran Turismo. I think their prior style was much more distinctive than the styles of the Morcheeba's and Hooverphonic's and Mono's that seem to be mass-marketed today.
For those who appreciate the off-beat style of Lovefool and other lounge pop acts who are not afraid of producing quirky, catchy music -like Pizzicato Five and Saint Etienne - and the retro-creative sensibilities of those like Fantastic Plastic Machine and Momus, try this album out.
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