REVIEWS

Tor Lundvall
Yule

Strange Fortune

Posted: Monday, February 05, 2007
By: Matthew Johnson
Assistant Editor

One of the great things about Tor Lundvall's Christmas album is that apart from a few lyrical references on "Christmas Eve" and a hint of jingling bells on "12:00 AM," you can barely tell it's a Christmas album at all. In this day and age, it's extraordinarily difficult to write a holiday song, let alone an entire album, without coming off as either schmaltzy or snobby, and for the most part, Lundvall doesn't really try, focusing on creating a general feeling of the season rather than trying to communicate some specific message or other. It works wonderfully. The pure, rich, ambient tones of "Snowy Morning" immediately call to mind the time and place described by the song's title, and "Fading Light" evokes the early winter darkness of late December with gentle clanging, muted electronic tones, and Lundvall's own dreamy singing. While several of the offerings on Yule feature vocals, most notably the guitar-laced "Yule Song," which recalls the work of such ambient pop masters as Slowdive, Lundvall's true talent is in using subtle sounds and effects to create instrumental compositions that match the softly surrealistic impressions of his paintings. "Busy Station" and "The Train Home" in particular do a wonderful job of conjuring up warm urban imagery with their pulsing tones, echoing chimes, and sparse arrangements of electric piano, while "The Falling Snow" uses muffled drones and occasional chimes to create 20 minutes of winter weather as experienced from within cosy walls, with all the naturalistic wonder of a heavy snowstorm and none of the discomfort. Lundvall fans in particular will of course enjoy this one a great deal, as it perfectly combines the ethereal pop of his Last Light album with the more esoteric instrumental sound collages of Empty City. Though this limited edition EP is already sold out, ambient fans should seriously consider tracking down a copy on eBay.