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Pop/softrock
Published:
11. mars 2022
Record label:
Voices of Wonder Records
«Solid pophåndverk.»
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ALBUM: When Minor Majority went out «Napkin Poetry» i 2019 it had been ten years since the previous album, “Either Way I Think You Know”. Then they got busy! In 2021 came “The Universe Would Have to Adjust”, and ten months later now “Kiss Off” is released. At the same time, the band is embarking on a Norwegian tour that ends at Rockefeller in Oslo on April 22.
These days it might have been tempting to call the album “Piss Off”, with the address of a certain person east of us, but Minor Majority has chosen the milder and nicer variant “Kiss Off” (by the way, the title of a song with American Violent Femmes on their album debut in 1983).
New songs
Minor Majority’s recent album started with the fact that they wanted to “repair” a couple of songs that did not fit into the previous release, but instead started a creative process that turned into many new songs – and an entire album.
Perhaps producer, string and wind arranger and guitarist Roar Nilsen (The Dogs) has some of the “blame”, and with a more exciting result than last time. Here are some nice touches, hear for example the careful use of bassoon and clarinet on the title track «Kiss Off».
Nilsen also produced Pål Angelskår’s latest solo album in 2015 and has been a producer and guitarist from the band’s comeback album «Napkin Poetry». He contributes music on two songs as well, keyboardist Harald Sommerstad on one.
I feel that Nilsen and the band have found a better balance between “down tempo” and up-tempo on this ninth studio album with Minor Majority. It may seem like something anonymous at first listening, but sticks pretty quickly. Give it some time and you will be a happy listener!
Review: Is this what we’ve been waiting for for ten years?
Another glow
In addition to most of the music, Angelskår still stands for the words, sometimes together with Sjur Lyseid (The Little Hands of Asphalt) or Jacob Krogvold (Thulsa Doom). The lyrics are gentle and conciliatory and therefore do not differ much thematically from previous albums, but I still hear a different glow than on the more anonymous precursor – also musically. Together with Lyseid, for example, he has committed a beautiful text about hope and forgiveness («Hopeful»):
«I put your bottles in the trash can
while you sleep them off in bed
dreaming of ways
to cover your mistakes
trying to find out
just who it was you blamed for everything»
The two are also behind catchy «The Best Of Us»which feels like a mix of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” and a-has “Take On Me” and “The Sun Always Shines On TV”, topped with Sommerstad’s florlette piano and Kristine Marie Aasvang’s effective chorus!
Aasvang, from the band The Secret Sound Of Dreamwalkers, choruses on four more songs and makes a difference.
Review: You go a long way with melancholy
Strong song history
A band or artist will always be measured against the best they have done, in this case songs like “Think I’m Up for You and I”, “She Gave Me Away” and “This Time” from the career-defining “Up For You and I »(2004) and« Supergirl »and« Come Back To Me »from the sequel« Reasons To Hang Around »(2006).
One of the mildest
The songs on “Kiss Off” may not last completely the same level as in the heyday, but several are nearby – such as the title track (duet with Christel Alsos), «Brilliant Mistake», «Other People’s Lives» and «Hold On». The most interesting the song is by the way «Concerning David Palmer»a “defense” for the vocalist in another soft rock band, Steely Dan, in 1972 and ’73 – with a slight nod to the band musically.
And – the band’s great advantage is that it is fronted by a guy with one of Norway’s decidedly mildest and softest voices. It is able to give the soul peace! Angelskår is simply the pleasant “sound of Minor Majority”. Therefore, it has always been difficult to distinguish between the solo artist Angelskår and the band.
Repetitions
With such a clear stamp, it can also be difficult to avoid a certain feeling of repetition. After all, they do – for the most part – only what they can. The “consolation” is that they do what they can very well!
The album will be released tomorrow. Minor Majority plays at Tou Scene in Stavanger tonight (Thursday), Høvleriet in Haugesund on Friday and USF Verftet in Bergen on Saturday. The tour then continues to eight cities.
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