Album Preview: Magnet, The Simple Life

Label: Hermetic

Norwegian pop singer Even Johansen, aka Magnet, first came to attention for the blend of folk music and gentle electronica on his debut On Your Side and its follow-up The Tourniquet

Since then he’s become enough of a local star for The Simple Life to top the album chart in his homeland.

It’s not hard to seewhy: there’s an ambition and sophistication about these 11 songs that brings to mind the oddball genius of Van Dyke Parks on “Count”, or, on the titletrack, Rufus Wainwright at his most flamboyant.

Best of all is “The Gospel Song”, where a curious alliance of banjo, harmonica and pizzicato strings carries Johansen’s lyric: “With your heart in the future and your head in the past, I see nothing in between that's gonna last” – not a prognosis applicable to his own fortunes, on this showing.

For a sample track from The Simple Life just click on the link below:

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