We try to cover a range of different musical genres and styles at Nordic Music Review, and I know we sometimes have a bias towards guitar based Indie music / melancholy singer songwriter types, so its good to cover 2 artists / bands this weekend that vary slightly from that. The first is Nana Jacobi, a really talented Danish singer songwriter who has received some recognition and radio airplay (as well as in films) back in Denmark but doesn’t appear to have had much coverage here in the UK, which is a shame, because I think her style of songwriting would be very much appreciated.
Her latest album 'Expander' is out, and it’s a well thought through contemporary sounding offering. The strength of the album is in the first instance is undoubtedly Nanas vocals, they come through as completely effortless, with this amazing soft sweet tone that is up there with the best. And the songs are really well written too, with quirky catchy melodies and slick instrumentation.
So just to highlight a few of the key tracks, 'Expander' opens with 'Cut a Heel Cut toe', with a lovely melody, and straight away we know we have an individual style here which sets the album out from many similar counterparts. And whilst regular readers know i hate trying to make comparisons with other artists, i guess we're probably in the fields of Hafdis Huld and Feist - certainly the vocals of Nana remind me of the beautiful soft voice of Hafdis. 'I put my Foot Down' is an obvious highlight, an outrageously catchy melody, a more melancholy ending and I love the video that goes with it – have a look for yourself.
But its actually some of the latter tracks that appeal to me the most - 'Open the Cage' is darker and more intense, and in particular I love the glimpses of violin courtesy of Nils Gröndahl (we could and probably should write a feature just on Nils alone). ‘Let it Be’ has a really laid back feel, and the 6 minute cover of Nick Caves ‘Into my Arms’ is simply fantastic.
This is a likeable album that’s pretty easy to get into, which isn’t over complex and should have the ability to appeal to quite a wide audience. With outstanding vocals, and some well written tracks, Nana Jacobis 'Expander' has been a real delight to have on our playlist in the last week, and we highly recommend downloading at least a few tracks via Itunes from the link below, as we will be ourselves.
Nordic Music Review 8/10
'Expander' is released through Target Records and you can get it in the following places:
For cd and vinyl: http://www.targetshop.dk/seek/