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 Catchy pop music 


Review of Pieces
By Sam

There must be something in the air in northern Europe. Maybe there’s an indigenous chemical found amongst the fjords that creates clever and catchy pop music, for not a year goes by when there isn’t a Nordic upstart storming up the British charts. This year’s contender? Swedish 21 year-old Erik Hassle; though if you’re expecting him to deliver the lightweight pop of Scandinavia’s other exports – Aqua, Alphabeat or even early ABBA, prepare to be surprised.

In fact, much about Hassle is a surprise, from edgy electronics, his oddly familiar voice, or even his hair, which seems to defy gravity with the way it sits almost precariously on his head – think orphan Annie gone indie. However, it seems rather trivial to focus on his appearance when he is making such great music (but hey, this is pop music….it has to count for something! After all, he’ll never get anywhere if the so-called ‘McFly Generation’ don’t fancy him).

His album, ‘Pieces’, his first to be released in the UK, demands your attention right from the opener, ‘Bump In The Road’, with its intro of creepy atmospherics that really show you this is a talent worth listening to. In fact, Hassle does introductions exceedingly well, from the Franz Ferdinand-esque opener to his current single ‘Don’t Bring Flowers’ to the Gaga-meets-Tiësto club rhythms of ‘Standing Where You Left Me’(a highlight of the album). On their own, these intros may not account to anything, so it is lucky Hassle has the talent and voice to back up this early promise. His voice is particularly interesting. Although it often takes second place to the excellent music of the opening trio of songs, it really comes of its own after this on the frenetic love song ‘Isn’t It Obvious’ and especially on the piano-based ‘The Thanks I Get’, where the relatively sparse arrangement allows his voice to shine through. To use a reasonably recent comparison that does him no favours, his voice is rather like Daniel Merryweather’s, except infinitely better, especially when coupled with the awesome-yet sensitive synthpop.

After these six songs, the album dwindles slightly; not because the following songs are bad, but because the first six are so strong. Saying that, these songs are still pretty good if judged on their own merits. Hassle has evidently been paying attention to the music industry of the last decade. Every song seems to remind the listener of a brilliant band of the decisively badly-named ‘Noughties’, whilst still staying completely original and totally worth listening to for something new. And if this seems to be a oxymoron to you, then I strongly suggest you listen to this album and discover this excellent artist while you can still gain bragging rights for discovering him so early on.

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