Loney Dear live

I went to see Loney Dear a few weeks ago and had a really good time, better, really, than I expected given the record, which is very pop. The show is much more rocking and fun.

Anyway, the review’s been up at PopMatters for a few days. Here’s a bit:

Loney, Dear’s Dear John, out about a week at the time of the show, represents an evolution from its predecessor Loney, Noir, its sound denser, more rhythmic and driven. Live, this change becomes immediately apparent. The older songs are fragile and delicate. The ones from the new album buzz with bass and pound with drums. I begin to think that you could tell which album you were hearing just by looking at the drummer. Sticks on cymbals and snare? That’s Loney, Noir. Mallets on toms? Something from Dear John.

The new songs have a large-scale pop architecture. They are quite loud and celebratory. “This one may be a little too large for the room,” says Svanängen as he surveys an empty dance floor, a smattering of people at tables. But he and his band launch into “Everything Turns to You” with relish, Svanängen bounding up and down on his feet with its pummeling rhythm. “Summers”, also from the new album, is more serene, starting in a sampled swell of organ, with Svanängen’s voice a delicate falsetto. Yet even here, the bass is turned way up, building tension into an expansive pop daydream. And the album opener “Airport Surroundings”, is an all-out rocker—the beat that, on the record, is crisp and understated turns far heavier and more emphatic onstage.

The rest here.