Jumper Round (Life - The Cardigans)

Member Name: stoffy

Product:	Life - The Cardigans
Date:	15/06/03 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: super-catchy pop songs

Disadvantages: may be a bit too samey and kitsch for some

Having an international cross-over hit from a film that outsells everything you've previously done put together has its downsides, namely everybody forgetting instantly any previous work. Whilst 'Lovefool' has proved to be something of a millstone around the necks of the Cardigans for their subsequent careers, the band have produced some exceptional and underrated pop albums which show a greater depth than the catchy 20-second chorus they have become renowned for.

The enigmatic Nina Persson is the band's frontwoman, and like Shirley Manson in Garbage or Gwen Stefani in No Doubt, she is probably the only member of the band with a public profile. However, along with fellow members Peter, Bengt, Magnus and Lars-Olaf, Persson can lay claim to being one of the most interesting musical exports from Sweden in the mid to late 1990's.

It is probably best to describe their sound as Saint Etienne colliding with a European 60's Bondgirl in IKEA. Each of the songs on this album is produced to absolute perfection. Whilst this may be grating to the ears of some, and perhaps overdoing the kitsch factor on some of the tracks, the effect appears quite organic as Personn's sweet vocal combines with some deceptively dry and dark lyrics.

'Life' was the band's second album released in the mainstream, following on from their debut 'Emmerdale'. Whilst perhaps not displaying the greatest range of sounds, 'Life' begins with the super-sing-a-long that is 'Carnival', which effortlessly mixes smooth strings with acid-jazzy keyboards and a characteristically aloof vocal.

The gloriously titled 'Gordon's Gardenparty' takes us to a surreal place where you can imagine sausages on a stick and champagne being poured on the patio of a member of the celebrity jetset in the 60's sunshine. The same saccharine sentiments are carried forward in 'Daddy's Car', where Persson&
#39;s beautiful vocals lifts the subtle tune into becoming one of the album's standout tracks.

Another sweet sounding song is 'Sick And Tired', although it's lyrics convey a darker sentiment, as we hear a tale of depression and desperation. This epitomises the fact that the perception of The Cardigans as a sweet little pop band that sings sweet little songs is very wrong once you hear the words to the upbeat tunes. 'Tomorrow' continues in the same vein, and leads into the geniunely cheery 'Rise and Shine'. Whilst some might say that the cake is a little over-iced at this point, it still manages to be extremely catchy and listenable.

The second half of the album continues the same theme of twisting what appears on the surface to be pretty love songs into subversively bitter ones. Admittedly the latter half of the album is a bit samey, although final track, a re-interpretation of Black Sabbath's 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' is certainly worth a mention. Worked over so that the monster rock tune now resembles a smoky soundtrack to cocktails at a posh London bar circa 1967, it rounds off the album with a touch of class, elegance and a bit of surprise.

It's probably fair to say that 'Life' isn't an album that can be listened to repeatedly on loop due to its relative saminess and kitch. Nonetheless it is one of their best albums, and demonstrates that whilst The Cardigans may be a bit of a musical one-trick pony, it is a champion thorough-bread rather than an old nag destined for the glue factory that they personify.

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