Tim: So here’s a tale for the digital age: two Swedish brothers, Erik and Kent Widman, grew up in Stockholm then moved to Chicago as teenagers. A few years on, Erik’s back in Stockholm and they’re showing that “making a great album is no longer constrained to physical proximity, but can be accomplished in the cloud.”
Tim: So, synth bits get sent back and forth, vocals are recorded, and eventually something worth listening to comes out of it. The aural equivalent of this blog, really.
Adam: It worked in a similar fashion back in 2003 for The Postal Service and resulted in the release of one of, in my opinion, the greatest albums of the 21st century!
Tim: Huh, did not know that. So is this as good, and is it anything more than just a gimmick?
Adam: Nowadays it’s so easy to collaborate via the internet that I’d say this isn’t even that big a deal.
Tim: You’re probably right, and not even I’m enough of a cynic to think they’re wanging on about it purely done to grab attention. It’s nice that they want to keep making music, although, well. Let’s face it: this is a bit dull.
Adam: It left me wanting more. It kinda reminded me of a TV intro? It’s catchy but it doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere.
Tim: More or less my thoughts – for the first minute or so it’s fine, but damn, does that four bar loop get old very, very quickly. I don’t know what the thinking was behind making this four and a half minutes long, but this could have been chopped at the three minute mark and would have lost nothing at all.
Adam: It does get a tad repetitive. I zoned out the first time I was listening to it and thought I had the track on repeat.
Tim: Basic message, then: sounds good, but know when to stop.