Airports. Damn it. I can’t get away from them. I spend all week writing about them. Then I have to review a song about them. And anything that goes by this title reminds me of weird 1970s disaster films or Tom Hanks’ ‘The Terminal’.
There is something 1970s about this song, perhaps even 1960s, although I’m hard pressed to find someone to compare her to directly, Lena Anderssen has a way of doing things that’s all her own. And it’s different from ‘Aimee’, which we reviewed last year and which had an Americana feel to it. It’s upbeat and chirpyfrom the off, much more of a traditional pop song and this is just the right time to release it, as the sweltering British spring clocks up 10 degrees Celsius and everyone starts thinking about the beach they may or may not walk on this year.
Indeed the song is about “replacing the sorrow of separation with the anticipation of being reunited” and the ‘poetry pop-ster’ as she calls herself doesn’t disappoint with some smart lyrics:
“How could a new day/Just fade so fast/And leave such a mark on this map/That I keep on tracing/I keep turning back the page/To days of endless sun/And then just like that it’s gone.”
The musicianship on this song is something to behold. There’s a 30-piece orchestra, horns, and a band that includes Matt Chamberlain (Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Adele, and on Fiona Apple’s cover of The Waterboys’ ‘The Whole of the Moon’ which we featured back in January in a Non-Nordic Sunday spot) and pianist Matt Rollings (Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Mary Chapin Carpenter).
Moreover, as we mentioned last time, both ‘Aimee’ and ‘The Airport’ are taken from the final album worked on by Geoff Emerick, the legendary Beatles producer of ‘Revolver’,’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and ‘Abbey Road’, in Los Angeles before he died.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
The video is intriguing, too. It seems to have been filmed all over the place. I believe she’s a resident of Canada now and I suspect both the Faroe Islands and Canada appear in it. Then at around 0:40 for a brief moment it looks like shuttered-up Moss Side in Manchester. She couldn’t have, could she? Nah.
You know, with her trademark bowler hats I’m genuinely surprised she isn’t a much bigger name in the UK. Perhaps this forthcoming album, ‘State of the Land’ (3rd September, Songcrafter Music) will do the trick. Seatbacks up, buckle up and prepare for landing.