Search - Christian Kjellvander :: Faya

A beautiful, quite dark journey through the past...

Markus Örn | Stockholm, Sweden | 11/10/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When Christian Kjellvander released his first solo record in late 2002, after breaking up his lo-fi country band the Loosegoats, I was truly impressed. I have always loved his deep barritone voice, and his great sense for harmonies, but I never thought he could deliver anything as good as Loosegoats "Plain, Plateaus & Mountais" from 1999... I couldn't have been more wrong.

"Songs from a two-room chappel" was full of country-rock that would have made Neil Young full of awe, and beautiful, haunting, stripped down folk-songs.

And now in late 2005 "Faya" has arrived.

"Faya" is a theme record (not as cheesy as it might seem) about a mid-aged man who is drifting between break-up, break-down and salvation. But if you listen beyond the fictive storytelling, you'll hear a man who is dealing with his childhood, growing up in a foreign land (they lived in Seattle until Christian was 15) with his father who had a bit of a drinking problem, and the death of his father a few years after the returned to Sweden. "Faya" isn't an easy record to absorbe. It has a similar feeling to it like Springsteens "Nebraska" and most of Damien Jurado's records. But when you give it time it will grow until you'll have a hard time taking your mind off of it. Please, take your time and let "Faya" 'neath your skin... I promise it's worth the effort."