During the sessions for
Taken by Trees
' fifth album, the band's mainstay
Victoria Bergsman
decided to take a break in order to pay tribute to one of her favorite singers and songwriters
Colin Blunstone
. Calling in old friends
Bjorn Yttling
and
John Eriksson
and working with co-producer
Freja the Dragon
,
Bergsman
crafts a fitting tribute to
Blunstone
on
Another Year
. Focusing on his solo work rather than
the Zombies
, specifically his 1971 album
One Year
and it's 1972 follow-up
Ennismore
and co. make subtle changes to the original arrangements and take a sideways route to capturing the kind of rapturous melancholy of
's originals. On "Say You Don't Mind" and "Time's Running Out" she replaces the strings with vibes, bongos, electric keys, and the kind of harmonica one might hear on a
Beach Boys
record, while giving the vocals her usual deeply sad, impossibly delicate best. It's a magical, almost entrancing sound that's bolstered by tender clouds of backing vocals and soft clarinets. On both "Caroline Goodbye" and "I Don't Believe in Miracles," most of the grandeur of the originals is stripped away to leave gently struck piano chords, tender clouds of backing vocals, and
's subtle singing to put the emotions across. It works very, very well. They take it to extremes on "She Loves the Way They Love Her," which when done by
has a peppy skip and scamper that the band completely erase here. Instead, they turn the song into a cross between a
Velvet Underground
ballad and soft, sad jazz. It's a daring move that doesn't work quite as well as other gambits undertaken elsewhere, if only because the original is so divine. High marks for giving it a go, though. That it gets an A- instead of an A only brings the overall grade down a tiny bit. With
has made a solid career out of sonic exploration and intense feeling, and what she does with
's music is of a piece with what she did with Middle Eastern sounds, tropical vibes, and contemporary pop -- made them her own. ~ Tim Sendra