Album Review: Christian Kjellvander – The Pitcher

Album Review: Christian Kjellvander – The Pitcher
Christian Kjellvander - The Pitcher (Tapete)
12/19/2013
Updated:
7/18/2015

On his fifth album, Kjellvander crafts beautiful Swedish backwoods new country sounds with a warm, sonorous vocal reminiscent of John Grant. Recorded in an old rural Swedish church, the album opens with some lush orchestral arrangements played by members of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra whose accompaniments augment the intimate mood throughout. Melodic and at times mournful, there are echoes of the Handsome Family, particularly on the more Nordic noir pieces like ‘The Crow’. There’s even a sad Mexican arrangement on ‘The Field Before’, whilst elsewhere sparseness or textured guitars evoke the wide open spaces where this album was conceived.

Four stars out of five