ARTS
.Concretes cement position in pop

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By Puja Kumar
For the Daily

Remember the girl in high
school who all the guys wanted
to date and
all the girls
wanted to The
be? Female- Concretes
led Swedes
the Con- The Concretes
cretes, who
play music Astralwerks
featuring
simple charm and irresistible
hooks, have mastered that same
appeal with an undeniably infec-
tious blend of pop.
Starting out in 1995 as an all-
girl trio from Stockholm, the now-
co-ed octet's latest release
experiments with strings, horns,
organs and unconventional percus-
sion instruments. After a number
of international EPs and label
switches, their self-titled is the
Concretes' first full-length effort.
With a voice whose melan-
cholic and ethereal qualities are

mildly evocative of German
avant-garde chanteuse and
Warhol acolyte Nico, Victoria
Bergsman leads the band
through an album whose
organs, rhythms, lovely backing
vocals and varied orchestration
make it difficult to categorize:
Upbeat horns open "Seems
Fine" while the next track
boasts a slow, twangy intro that
contrasts beautifully with
Bergsman's accent.
Bergsman's vocals are one of
the most compelling features of
the album. Her Swedish accent
floats over whatever instrumen-
tal concoction the band pro-
duces; its draw is more coy than
overtly sexy, and the subtle pas-
sion of the lyrics tingles over
listeners' spines.
The self-titled album opens
with, "Say Something New," a
host of potential energy that
crescendos into a brassy, per-
cussive symphony - think of
Phil Spector's wall of sound
production. The next track and
first single, "You Can't Hurry
Love," is the catchiest song on

the album. Its two minutes
don't allow the band to stray
far from a pop structure, but
simple, coarse production
saves the fast-paced beat and
playfully effective singing
from crossing the line into
bubblegum territory.
The difference between the
Concretes' brand of pop and
their saccharin contemporaries
and influences is that the
sound's sweetness is genuine,
and even the simpler tracks
offer a well-developed and
evocative darkness that blends
beautifully with the songs'
white warmth.
The songs on The Concretes

transition with a buoyancy that
doesn't forsake momentum or
magic. The demure vocals and
almost languid rhythm of
"Chico" are at once haunting
and familiar, and the simple
lyrics of "New Friend" ("It's
harder than I thought / Being
on my own"), complemented
by soft, woozy horns and
Bergsman's petulant voice, stir
both imagery and pathos, a
remarkable feat, especially for
a pop song.
"Diana Ross," an homage to
the former Supreme, is a
marching, slow composition
whose most alluring feature is
Bergsman's accent, which par-
ticularly stands out in this
track. "Warm Night's" waltz
tempo and mandolin lines
inspire romantic swaying that,
like the band themselves,
seems ultra-sophisticated and
out of place in the current pop
community. Hopefully, the
Concretes will make like the
building material they're
named for and stick around for
a long time.