I need to do some more research on the Icelandic album I was going to feature today (I appreciate the idea of me doing actual research is difficult to believe), so instead I’ll switch across to an instantly loveable Swedish indie release I‘ve listened to a fair amount since it came out a couple of weeks ago.
Bedroom Eyes is the name of the artist, and behind the project name is Swedish songwriter Jonas Jonsson, who started writing under this name in 2010. ‘Sisyphus Rock’ is the album, an interesting title especially if you like your Greek mythology, and it’s a follow up from 2 previous albums, most recently ‘Greetings from Northern Sweden’, which was released in 2017.
Opener ‘Streaming my Consciousness’ has a driving guitar, straight into catchy vocals, upbeat and one of the longest on the album at close to 5 minutes. But the Sisyphus theme of the album title is apparent in the inspired ‘Sisyfuzz‘, 90 secs of fuzzy power pop “I pushed that boulder and it rolled over….. make the best of what you’ve got, we are here until we’re not. And that is all…” and literally the song just stops. Brilliant.
More conventional indie songwriting then apparent in ‘The Dark Between the Stars’, his influences are not too difficult to guess, before we’re offered the uplifting Paul Westerberg (I assume named after the musician) with another memorable catchy chorus.
But then the albums heads in a slightly different direction with the gorgeous ‘One of those Things’ which benefits from an array of sensitively phrased instrumentation (I’m guessing a collective effort from various musicians), which sets them up for ‘Kim’, a stunning indie track with an anthemic vocal chorus worthy of a big stage. But he’s not finished, with euphoric Stone Roses styled guitars opening up ‘Store Bla’, a blazing single that appeared on the Nordic Music Review playlist, my only criticism is that at 5 minutes it still feels too short.
This is nothing short of an absolute triumph from Jonas Jonsson, an album short and to the point with big catchy tunes and instantly likeable guitars and supporting instrumentation. I like the lyrics too, and although written in a different style it all reminds me a little of the brilliantly underrated Swedish outfit The School Book Depository. Of course it doesn’t break too much new musical ground in the process, but I really don’t care, because as far as I’m concerned he can keeping pushing the boulder in the same direction as long as he wants.