Labels: Astma Records
Review by: Kjetil Holstad
The best things about end-of-the-year “best of’ lists is when you are able to pick up something that otherwise would have gone under the radar. Torgeir Waldemar appeared often enough on some of these to trigger my interest and low-and-behold, a 3 song EP was recently release digitally (with a 10″ vinyl version rumored to come). I was by no means prepared for what I was about to experience. This is folk-country usually made an ocean away played with so much heart and soul it’s incredible hard not to be touched.
The opener “Take me home’ is close to perfection. The sparsely instrumented song serve as a perfect and fragile backbone to Torgeir’s voice, who sings words that seems to come straight from his heart. Bare, beautiful and utterly depressing. The other two tracks do not stray far from the title track. There are hints of Nashville, elements of Jason Molina and the Mississippi delta never seem far away. Only the Norwegian accent reveals that this is not from over-there, guess the cold and dark Norwegian winter works equally good.
This isn’t groundbreaking in any other way than the fact that I can’t remember to have heard such a talented song-writer out of Norway in a long long time. Essential if you are into the likes of Jason Molina, Bonnie “Prince’ Billy, Townes Van Zandt and similar. Best thing in ages, and any new release from this front will automatically be added to my “most anticipated release of..’ list.
Note that the song below is a different and faster version of the title-track. Check spotify or other digital music sources for the EP version.