One of the fringe benefits of writing a mildy successful blog is that people send you things to listen to and read. The expectation, of course, is that you'll share your thoughts on the blog. I've received enough discs of late to make a regular feature of reviewing them. Welcome to the Tuesday Tune-up, where I'll write up some of these new discs that have caught my ear. First up: While the City Sleeps from Kalli.

On the first three songs of his solo debut, Kalli’s sound brings to mind Ryan Adams, Damien Rice and Gomez. From there the influences and/or tributes are less obvious, and by the end of the disc the whole thing has evolved to sound like, well, Kalli, one supposes.

If the name is unfamiliar, the sound may not be. Kalli fronted the Icelandic group Without Gravity, whose lone disc, 2005’s Tenderfoot, mined a similar sound. He performed much of this new disc on his own, assisted by producer Arnar G (Do people in Iceland have a phobia about last names? Let’s ask Bjork).

There are many challenges built into this project, but listeners willing to overcome them will find considerable rewards. Start with the name: Kalli sounds like the moniker of a Britpop dance queen. Then there is the cover, its bad reproduction of a strange looking puppet making it look like a low-budget self-released trifle, not the product of a respected indie label like One Little Indian. Finally, most people associate Icelandic music with the quirks of the aforementioned Bjork, so some may steer clear based on geography alone.

Overcome all of that, and you are left with a disc that will grow on you. The artists mentioned at the outset, as well as Jeff Buckley, Coldplay and other breathy/operatic singers backed by moody, atmospheric playing, are fitting reference points. The disc leads off with its best track, “Raindrops,” a shimmering beauty of a song that would have been a highlight on any of Adams’ recent discs. It's an organic sounding gem, and while nothing else on the disc quite reaches these heights, it does set the tone stylistically for what follows.

As the disc progresses, Kalli shakes off his influences, or at least better absorbs them into his own sound. Over the course of its 10 tracks, the whole begins to subsume its parts, creating a fairly seamless, soothing soundscape. That happens in part because the best songs are frontloaded, but even the weaker tracks feel of a piece with the rest of the disc, offering a bridge between meatier tunes.

Labels: music, TuesdayTuneup