I’ve just had, or actually I’m still having this amazing feeling. It’s the feeling I get when I know I’ve just discovered music that will stay with me the rest of my life. I was listening to Björn Kleinhenz’s new single “Black Water” (free download here) and the first time I heard it, I instantly got goosebumps all over. That’s no bad sign.
Early in 2009, Björn moved to on an island called Fårö on the east coast of Sweden with his girlfriend and their rabbit named Humle. They rented a small house with a big garden by the ocean and lived there in solitude for eight months. Björn set up a studio in a tiny room on the second floor and started recording. Björn did everything himself and with a very limited set of instruments, which gave it all a very homemade sound. The result was two albums; both the mp3 release Head Held High in Fearsome Pride and the main work, B.U.R.M.A. The name of the album was a phrase used by american soldiers during World War II when sending letters home to their wives and girlfriends meaning “Be Undressed And Ready My Angel”.
The first song, “HAZ920″ starts up with with some lo-fi static before fading into a shoegaze-like sound with guitar picking and drums banging. Before you know it, however, the song takes a sudden turn to a more folksy sound with acoustic guitar, banjo and vocals in the style of Conor Oberst. As unfitting that might sound when you read this, it’s all put together in a perfect mix that sounds completely natural.
The sound of Björn Kleinhenz’s music is not one that’s easily placeable, even if a quick listen might make you think so. At one point he sounds kind of like Bon Iver, Iron & Wine or Bright Eyes and suddenly it’s changed and might sound more like Okkervil River (their slow songs), Death Cab for Cutie or something completely different. There’s barely a song on the album that resembles another. He tries so many diffent types of sounds that you’d think it’d affect the quality drastically, but it doesn’t. It’s an album you can listen to again and again without finding a clear essence. With that said, it’s not inconsistent either. Even with such a span in styles he’s managed to sew it all together to the brilliant album that is B.U.R.M.A.
Am I impressed? Very much so. This is the best album I’ve heard in quite a while and it’s easily one of the best to be released in 2009 so far.