With rough tenderness, the Osnabrück musician Mr. Svenson works his way through fantastic songs full of love and longing on his first solo album and sings about the stations of his life, about harbor bars, his child, about slumberland.
Musically, Mr. Svenson's songs vary between minimalist singer-songwriter aesthetics, melodic alternative vibes and percussion-dominated, complex arrangements.
Mr. Svenson loves guitars, whether electric or not. Banjo, mandolin, bass, Wurlitzer, darbuka, and bendir. He plays with anything he can get his hands on. There are no drums here, instead body percussion and Arabic percussion. He gratefully leaves the piano to his musical companion, Mr. Andreas Müller, and Matthes Wilhelm provides a melancholic flair on the accordion.
The lyrics range from sincere, uncheesy declarations of love ('Seven Loves', 'Song for My Child') to the desire for freedom ('Just One More Time'). They alternate between sympathetic self-irony ('Shit on the Shoe', 'Big Love') and heartbreaking heartbreak ('She's Not Waiting Anymore', 'To the Stars').
This special blend makes 'Mr. Svenson Sings Love Songs' a powerful and authentic listening experience. And a rollercoaster of emotions. For Mr. Svenson, the realization 'In my heart, I am a stray' is by no means just a flirtation with clichés, but pure self-awareness and the beginning of a long journey, the search for a home.
Mr. Svenson has just the right voice to tell these stories: like old velvet with barbs, rough and sometimes scratchy, but always sensitive and authentic.
When he teams up with the wonderful singers Anja Ricciuti ('To the Stars') and Rebecca Colen ('She Waits No More') for duets, it touches the listener deep inside.
Songwriting, arrangements, and production: You can hear the passion Mr. Svenson put into every detail. A cinematic experience for the ears. A favorite movie in 14 songs that you'll wish would never end.
The album sounds absolutely timeless, but is also a retrospective. In his own words: "I'm an old fart with a new project. Some of the songs were written many years ago, but never fit my bands. I've had the desire to record these songs for a long time, and now I've fulfilled that desire."
A download code with all songs is included with the vinyl.
01 Seven Loves
02 Port
03 Set off one more time
04 To the Stars
05 Great Love
06 She's not waiting any longer
07 Oh Darling (Song for my child)
08 Cold turkey
09 Stray
10 Josephine
11 Shit on the shoe
12 Still there
Bonus tracks (CD/Download):
13 Sheila (2019)
14 Drunk (2016)
