Wtorek 9 Mar 2010, 17:09

Listening to Moen - the new album by Swedish band Immanu El is like visiting old friends. They are more mature and experienced but other than that, nothing has changed. They are still as good as they used to be.

In an interview given in Poland the vocalist of Immanu El Claes Strängberg explained the title of the album: Moen is a dialect word from a province where we’re from and to make a long story pretty short it’s a word that describes our home village in the highlands of southern Sweden. Swedish hill, piece of highland in that area is called moen. Moen is what we call our home. So, it’s pretty romantic, I must say.

After releasing the first album They’ll Come, They Come we were wandering through beautiful valleys (In Valleys). They were vast and nostalgic like slow words of the song. Now it is not less interesting. We are in heights, where „it’s so quiet” (Agnes Day). Silent words of Claes contrast with strong beats of drums and guitars. In this brilliant way they showed silence with help of very loud music.

But it is only the beginning. In Hogamon Two the sounds sparkle like colourful lights. Aerial tells about living in a big city. Everything happens so fast and it is so difficult to slow down. But it is possible – thanks to the song titled Tunnel. „That floats away” and it is extremely important to stop and watch as it is floating away. Fortunately, after every night comes a new day, so it is worth of it to wake up earlier and celebrate the moment when the sun rises. However, the most important is waiting for it, patient wating. So waits Claes until he sings „shine” (May). And later the joy and the happiness explode…

Immanu El are like a good painter. They have some favourite motives which are often used in their lyrics. It is easy to find horses, riders, lions or hillsides there. The action of Lionheart takes place in late July, which seems to be the favourite month of Claes as it also appears in his beautiful song Archipelago.

Claes proves that he has huge vocal skills. He can sing not only softly but also very loudly (e.g. May). The vocalist of Immanu El does his best to give every word its own special sound and meaning. He sings with carefulness, deliberation, really respects the language and emphasizes its beauty. Besides his voice is still clear, warm and touching (especially when he sings „that floats away” in Tunnel).

One of the main advantages of the album is that it tells about the most important things in a simple way, using simple language. The songs consider such serious issues like forgiveness or passing. Immanu El show how to live, love, how to be happy and celebrate every single moment. Of course the music is also very important here, as it is often full of joy, energy or hope. And we should believe them because it is enough to look at them during concerts. You can just feel that they are fantastic friends and they know really much about these things.

Immanu El, Moen, And The Sound Recordings 2009 (all the tracks are fully streamed on Last.fm)

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6539/moen1.jpg

Special thanks to Kamil, Łukasz, Tomek and Zofia