Regular visitors to my blog will know that I have been championing the up-and-coming Swedish talent Erik Hassle for an awful long time now, and so I am delighted that his debut album, Pieces, has finally been released here in the UK!
As usual, I have compiled a song-by-song album ‘review’ / set of quick notes taken whilst I was listening through:
Bump In The Road
My absolute favourite Hassle song – loved it since first hearing it last year! One of my stand-out songs of 2009.
Hurtful
His first widely promoted single in the UK – unfortunately this track came in at a rather disappointing #59 in the UK charts, which I really think doesn’t do it justice! He’s been doing even more promo since then, so hopefully his next single will fare better!
Don’t Bring Flowers
Another favourite of mine, a funky baseline to it and a little bit Calvin Harris-esque in vocal, though with an over-familiar sounding synth sample (Hurtful anyone?).
Isn’t It Obvious
A nice little song with some awesome sweet/tender lyrics – but as is always the case, an album track I think.
The Thanks I Get
Piano track (I love a prominent piano!), very stripped back song, another nice album track. A little strange… it seems to be a rather bitter-sweet lyric, but there’s never the ‘explosion’ of emotion/music that I as a listener really wanted.
Standing Where You Left Me
I love the synths on this track – it has me wanting to dance from the outset. Edgier vocal, anthemic chorus – potential single?
Bitter End
(sorry, no YouTube!)
Nice ‘laid-back’ sounding track, I really like the sound of the bridge on the track.
First Time
This is a rather catchy song, another potential single I think. I love the guitar riff and the lyrics are rather sensual – ha!
Love Me To Pieces
Not too sure on this track, it seems to go off to one side, and then go off to another – quite a disruptive listening experience. Kudos for the (albeit brief) prominent violin notes about half way in!
Wanna Be Loved
A great 80s synth-pop sound to the verses of this track, and a nice simple catchy little chorus.
Back to Bed
Another guitar track that gives a fairly jarred listening experience, especially with the timing being a little strange on the track, but I think it’ll grow on me.
Amelia
Raw guitar track – love it a lot!! Really showcases his voice well.
All in all, I thought that this was a rather good first album (with Bump In The Road being the stand-out track). I hope that he is able to garner a lot more success as his career progresses – this chap is clearly very talented and it would be a travesty if he wasn’t able to break through into the UK charts and achieve some recognisable success!
For those who would like to have a proper listen to the album before purchasing a copy, it has just been made available to all membership tiers on Spotify.
Also well worth a visit is Erik’s official website – especially as he’s quite ‘hands on’ with the online community/fan base.
