meanwhile, in Sweden... (Johan Hedberg - Paradiset)

Johan Hedberg - Paradiset

Why you'll love it:  Well produced, rich sound

Why you'll hate it: Vocals and language are rough

As much as I love Labrador Records releases, Paradiset is a tough album for an English only listener to penetrate.  I listen to a lot of foreign acts.  It's usually pretty easy to let the universal language of music take over, and find what makes a song catchy at its core.  Digging deeper, it's usually rewarding to find the passion coming through in a performance without even knowing the words being sung.  There are a few moments in Paradiset where that does happen.  The closer, "Pirayastim" comes to mind immediately.  For the most part, that isn't the case.

In his English speaking project, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Johan Hedberg has a charming voice.  His low pitched, dopey delivery fits the sense of humor in their songs.  Lots of fun loving bells & whistles in the sound, and smart-ass quips in the lyrics.  As a solo artist, sticking exclusively to Swedish, Johan sounds a bit out of touch.  The tone of the songs give the impression that his heart is on his sleeve here, with no sarcasm.  It's pretty hard at first to take such a silly voice as his seriously.  There is no overt tomfoolery on this album, and whatever saving grace it needs comes from the music itself.

Labrador Records (who live up to their tagline as "world’s finest purveyor of pop music.") do an incredible job supporting Johan here; who is now at a huge disadvantage without that trademark Suburban Kids snark.  There are a lot of extra touches put into the songs that don't feel needlessly piled on.  Very few of these songs fall flat.  "Det Fula" is peppy.  "Sur Och Tvär" has a groovy Erlend Øye style.  The charm that I know Johan Hedberg has is sadly lost in translation here.  And while the songs can be cute and catchy, they lack the snark that Suburban Kids had in spades.

Paradiset is a fine sounding album that sadly lacks staying power.  Johan's crack at honest songwriting is competent, but comes off a bit hammy due to a lack of any real creative hook.  I sure wish Suburban Kids was still around...