REVIEW: The Cardigans, Gran Turismo (Mercury)
- Joe Silva
What the Cardigans started on Life, and perfected on First Band On The Moon, they have shoved aside like a used cocktail napkin on their latest long player.
Gran Turismo plays as if the merry band of Swedes that gave fresh hope to Pop two years ago have swapped out their supply of jelly beans or whatever other confection they've kept in the studio for that handful of 'ludes. To be fair though, the band did much grumbling about being cast in the role of fluff despite the fact that they covered Black Sabbath tunes and held up glam guitar goons like Ace Frehley as their heros. But sonically, the listenership largely had them pegged.
For album number four, what they've handed in are eleven tracks of whiplash - deep, murky electronic flavors that sounds like what you'd expect to hear coming off your Portishead records. With Gran Turismo, Nina Perrson and her cohorts have set upon launching a massive attack of cold, non-organic vibes that are sure to leave you rethinking the band's identity and what they might be capable of.
Once track one ("Paralyzed") escapes its dreary intro and latches onto its groove, it does so only with Nina letting loose something about the "...sweetest way to die.." The melancholia continues, but what you realize over time is that what's subtly woven beneath the grey exterior are actually some very palatable tunes. "Higher" is a ultra-well concocted melody while "Explode" does anything but. On "Erase/Rewind," the laid back acoustic guitar line belies the song's strength. And it continues on in that fashion, swerving between higher points like "My Favourite Game" and lesser moments like "Marvel Hill." And the closer, "Nil," is a grim and wordless piano meandering.
Not that all of this is bad or unexpected for a young band that still open to being playful and experimental. It's just that these atmospheres are less of a comfy a thing to slip into when your in the mood for the ebullient fare that we've come to expect from them. Change is "bra", nej?
