I´m much wiser now, that´s how we walk

Review z Rakouského časopisu Kurier:

CD of the week

Unusually sensitive without the electric sound

The songs of Mando Diao on their unplugged album “Above And Beyond” express melancholy and intensity.

How do you want to follow up the success of Dance With Somebody? Probably the emails which Mando Diao frontman (oh...frontman??) Björn Dixgård received from his label at the beginning of the year were written in a more diplomatic way. The message was clear nevertheless:  with their fifth album Give Me Fire and the super-hit Dance With Somebody the Swedish band had reached the top of the charts. What can be next?

“An unplugged album”, was Björn´s answer. “In April MTV had invited us to record a show, and we agreed at once”, says Dixgård in the interview to KURIER. “This gave us some time to work calmly on our next album, but at the same time it was an artistic challenge.” A challenge that Mando Diao handled brilliantly – although until now their sound was based on sharp electric guitar swishing. Most of the songs on Above and Beyond gain on expression and atmosphere in the acoustic interpretation.

Fragile: Although – or exactly because – the voices of Dixgård and his partner in songwriting Gustaf Norén sound rough and fragile, the songs suddenly reveal a sensitive and melancholic character that until now seemed to be overlapped by the drive of the beats. Thus a soft intro turns the dance hymn Long Before Rock´n´Roll into a statement of longing, until in refrain it swings thrillingly with percussions and piano. And indeed goose bumps crawl over your back when the two of them call out “shivers down my spine” in the stirring blues High Heels, recorded as duet with the amazingly sensual Juliette Lewis.

“As we have written all songs on guitar or piano, the rearranging for acoustic versions was really very easy”, explains Dixgård. “The more amazing it was to see what kind of metamorphosis of character some songs were going through. As in Dance With Somebody we’ve often slowed down the tempo at the beginning. And so you suddenly can hear the beautiful melodies, and also the lyrics are better perceived. And at the end we speed up again – so you get the best of two worlds.”

Charm: The sound of “Above And Beyond”, which is also available as a limited edition with 24 songs, is not always perfect.(????????!!!!! WHAT???) But it’s exactly these flaws that make the CD so charming. This is quality according to the old school formula: simple instruments + people who love to play them = pure feeling.