Back to Denmark for our 4th album in this ‘In Short’ series, an excellent debut offering from Danish band Magnolia Shoals called ‘Tenants', which appears to have been a few years in the making, but has been worthwhile the wait. The albums been followed up with a successful summer touring, and playing festivals, and the live videos I've seen of these increase my interest because there appears to be an intensity about them, and the vocals work really well.
The album itself simply has a really nice sound to it, with acoustic guitar at the fore, but with sutble use of strings in tracks such as 'Western Whereabouts'. I love 'Christ The Tiger' in particular and they are another band that use brass instruments effectively (like Stillwakers and Lockerbie). Anyway here's a video they released at the end of last year.
I actually think this album should have widespread appeal in the UK, the tracks are well written, have good melodies, the vocals from Nicolai Noa are distinct and have a deep gothic edge that gives the songs character. Its also really easy to get into, leaving me to wonder how we missed it earlier in the year. But we’re more than happy to try and make up for that now, and Magnolia Shoals ‘Tenants’ is definitely recommended.
Nordic Music Review 8/10