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Rating: I'm not quite sure why, but Sivert Höyem, the voice of Madrugada, has never really convinced me.
He's good, very good for heaven's sake, but... his voice, too similar to Jim Morrison's, lays a "heard it before" patina on every piece he sings.
It's a somewhat unfair judgment, I realize that; and precisely because I'm aware of it, I bought the latest CD of the Norwegian singer as soon as I saw it (also because it was on sale).
Höyem is a prolific artist, and when he's not busy writing songs for Madrugada, what does he do? He writes more songs. And perhaps he plays them around Scandinavia with a band called Sivert Höyem & The Opposition.
At the beginning of this year (2004), Höyem decided he had enough material to record an album: material he deemed unsuitable for the "Madrugada" brand, so he decided to release it "solo".
The result is a sort of tribute to the music and musicians that have most influenced him: from Dylan to the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed, from Northern European folk (a track is dedicated to Cornelis Vreeswijk) to the American style of Grant Lee Buffalo.
A nice mix, in short, that only a "strong" voice can try to hold together. And it does, only some pieces actually turn out to be boring, and those that are saved could easily end up on the next Madrugada CD.
This guy still fails to convince me.
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