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ANNA TERNHEIM Somebody Outside Stockholm Records __________________________________________________ |
 Anna Ternheim is a
sad-eyed, blonde, 20-something singer-songwriter from Sweden who dragged
her small-but-inventive band (instruments include cell phone and drill
press!) to Gotland, a remote island on an already remote country, to
record this collection of melancholy odes to loneliness, ennui, and the
last dying embers of lost loves. People who have heard Anna’s siren songs
before sometimes say she reminds them of Dido, minus the trip-hop
tendencies, and while I can see the comparisons – they’re both trying to
break your heart, after all – Anna seems more like some dreamy 60’s
ingénue to me, plucked from a jetset European runway, paid handsomely by
swarthy millionaires in smoking jackets to pour her soul out for the
high-brow Cosmopolitan set. You know, like Nico, or Melanie, or
Lulu, one
of those kinda deals. Then again, I could be reading too much into this.
Perhaps she really is just a lonely Swedish girl with a guitar. I’m sure
they have those there. Anyway, “Somebody Outside” is a remarkable album,
as tender, moving and rainy as any acoustic set I’ve heard, and when Anna croons lines like
“Tomorrow morning set me free/ For many nights, you’ll never sleep” (from
Being Down I) you can practically feel the ache, not only in her faraway
voice, but in the universal moan of whatever poor soul she wrote the song
about. Of course, from my standpoint, tearjerkers like the French-y, drum
brush-driven “To Be Gone” or the wistful “I Say No” are mere whimsy; it’s
easy to get lost in these gray-day sounds when you know you can just exit
stage left at any time. But for people who actually are in their 20’s, who
are looking for love, or some way out of love, or just looking for any
direction home, really, then “Somebody Outside” will probably hit ‘em like
a ton of bricks. For me, Anna’s my latest coffeehouse crooner crush, but
for a 20 year old Sleazegrinder, she just might be your one true love.
Check out Anna’s website, where you can watch her ride a bicycle around Gotland in the “To Be Gone” video! __________________________________________________ |
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-Sleazegrinder |