This Is Where Our Hearts Collide

Amandine | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 15, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fat Cat
• ASIN: B000A7X6KO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #427,610 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

When you're a bunch of smart, deep-thinking guys trying to work in pop music, you have to walk kind of a thin line: it's the line between being intriguingly sensitive and being off-puttingly wimpy or solipsistic. Amandine is a Swedish band heavily influenced by American folk music and alt-country, and they walk that line on their pretty but occasionally frustrating debut album. That is to say, they walk it like someone submitting to a roadside intoxication test -- keeping a generally straight trajectory but sometimes wobbling off course before correcting themselves. Instrumentally, the band's sound is slow and soporific -- not exactly lazy, but not entirely committed either. Imagine a less-energized version of the Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Session and you'll get the idea. Unfortunately, singer Olof Gidlöf doesn't have anything approaching Margo Timmins' charisma; where she sounds quietly intense, Gidlöf sounds like he's trying valiantly to stay awake. It's an approach that works nicely on "Halo" (especially when the strings come in) and maybe a bit less well on the more aimless "Fathers & Sons." When the band starts more or less rocking out on the album's final track, the effect is so startling that it's really kind of thrilling. Kind of. Recommended to sensitive guys everywhere and to the girls who love them. -All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Something is brewing in Sweden, June 23, 2009

By 

Joel D. Tandberg (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: This Is Where Our Hearts Collide (Audio CD)

Honestly, this album is quite simply brilliant. I loved a few songs initially but after repeated listenings the whole album is pretty much gold from start to finish. My fiance even agrees and we're going to have a couple songs played at our wedding from this album. There is just something about Olof Gidlöf's voice and the beautiful instruments that just make this so accessible. This is one of the new jewels of my 700+ album collection, just an amazing effort.