It's a Musical
The Music Makes Me Sick

You don't ask pop music to change the world, to cleanse it of old ideologies or anything apocalyptic. It just needs to make us feel good, so that after listening, you can already whistle a melody or recall a chorus. It doesn't matter if there are underlying structures and layers: it's the final effect that counts. That's why everything is thrown into the pop cauldron, from the Beatles to Britney Spears to the group I'm about to introduce.

It's A Musical is a duo comprised of Swedish Ella Blixt and German Robert Kretzschmar that plays indie pop of disarming beauty. I had the fortune of meeting the two musicians in person at a concert held in my city, and I can say they possess a truly rare humility that completely reflects in their music (and then when a pair of Swedish eyes look at you while you thank their owner, telling her she made you feel good, how can you speak ill of them?).

Released around mid-October 2008 for Morr Music, it comprises 12 tracks characterized by the substantial absence of guitars, a minimal approach, all sustained by keyboards and synthesizers, often with brass inserts. Minimalism is not to be understood as "few sounds," but as "lack of pomposity." The arrangements are always well crafted, but you will never hear excessive layering: the sound is simple, and the melodies stand out above all.

The album opens with Pain Song, which hits hard: it starts quietly and then bursts into the chorus, while the dual vocals paint melancholic patterns so vivid you can almost see the yellowed leaves falling from the trees. At a certain point, there's even room for a little march, if you know what I mean...
Moving on, the track The Music Make Me Sick makes it even more evident what our duo is made of, with its three minutes where a bit of everything happens: it starts fast, driven by a Farfisa-like organ arpeggio, slows down, and then picks up again, with that chorus that goes "The music make me sick/I stopped to listen when you start to sing" that you will sing instantly.
The ballad "Lazy" closely resembles the Stars from their latest works, slow, with the piano and brass on full display. In the track that follows, "Dinosaur", the tribute to the aforementioned group is even more evident.
There’s so much good material here that I risk doing a track-by-track review, so just a few more mentions: the rich and almost jazzy "Du-du" might meander a bit, but it has some great sonic insights, like a vibraphone insert helped by brass that somewhat resolves things. The circus-like start of "The Circus" turns into a syncopated groove which then becomes pure fun (I suppose when the clowns enter) and closes poetically, fading out.
The finale is in the purest tearjerker style, with the vocal-led ballad "Take Off Your T-Shirt", pure liquid to lose oneself in, as the world is outside, this is my room and nobody can enter.

What can I say? A remarkable debut, for me one of the best albums of 2008, despite the big names hyped by specialized magazines, hoping that the world takes notice of them.