Swedish vocals
With too many people carelessly throwing the word 'pretentious' around for anything they don't understand, let's see what the Oxford Dictionary has to say about the word:
pretentious adjective
/prɪˈtenʃəs/
(disapproving)
trying to appear important, intelligent, etc. in order to impress other people; trying to be something that you are not, in order to impress
Johan Petrén is a Gothenburg local
singer/songwriter who released two albums, ”Bevingade ord” in
1982, and ”Ut i det blå (Sånger från Scilla)” in 1995. He
emphasizes his lyrics and this is where 'pretentious' comes in. He
has literary ambitions, but many of his wordings come off as cringeworthy. Like many a self-aggrandizing writer, he has a way of
making banalities sound VERY IMPORTANT when they're in fact not,
further emphasized by his somewhat pompous way of singing.
But
Petrén is in fact an otherwise good songwriter. Some songs here are
simply great, such as album opener ”Du är alldeles unik” with an
lilting drive and an irresistably melancholic melody laced with the
windy wooden sound of Maria Apelmo's simple but very effective
recorder. ”Och floden fortsätter flyta” is the second best track
in this lot and another perfect slice of Petrén's melodic talent.
”Bevingade ord” is – to the best of my knowledge – one of only three LP's released by the Spegling label (the other two being a classical record and a choir album). Their ambition was to record music unaffected by excessive production; they strived for a natural sound. The sparse instrumentation – the acoustic guitar, the flutes, the electric and acoustic basses etc – sounds full and rich and very inviting.
I oftentimes say that a dimension is
lost on listeners who don't know the Swedish language, but in this
case, it's quite the contrary. The lyrics are indeed the weakest link
in Petrén's songs, so I'd say you're much better off not
understanding them. That makes the songs stand tall on strictly their
musical terms. While Johan Petrén
carves out a slightly personal niche, I believe fans of (a much less
lyrically talented) Kjell Höglund and (a much less political) Dan Berglund very well might love this.
There are lots of
unreleased songs on Johan Petrén's Youtube channel, some dating back
to the early 70's.
Tåglåt från Hestra
Ödets tärning
Visa till min käraste
Utan nån skugga
Och floden fortsätter att flyta
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