The Cardigans
Gran Turismo

THE REVIEW

A whistled melody approaching and a slow, intense electronic beat… That's how “Paralyzed”, the first track of “Gran Turismo”, opens, considered by almost all critics as the best work to date from the Swedish band The Cardigans.

In this album, the Cardigans achieve what they never managed in previous or subsequent works: to keep the listener's attention alive from the beginning to the end of the CD without distractions or anonymous tracks. This is possible thanks to the particular atmospheres created on the CD: far from the refined pop of their beginnings (which was a successful refined pop of not insignificant quality, such as the hit “Lovefool”), the Swedes bring to life an album with predominantly very dark atmospheres, with expansive and at the same time captivating songs, to which the voice of a Nina Persson in top form gives a bittersweet flavor. Pieces like the aforementioned “Paralyzed”, “Explode”, “Higher”, “Marvel Hill”, the latter being the darkest track of the entire album.

Of course, there are also forays into pop rock that give the listener a breath of fresh air: such is the case of “My Favourite Game”, a hugely successful single, and perhaps the best track in The Cardigans’ entire career; prominent guitars, electronic beat replaced by a more classic drum, and Persson's voice that gets into your head destined to stay there for a long time. Even the other single, “Erase/Rewind”, stays mainly in this genre, although it and the other single are perfectly inserted in the electro-melancholic mood of the album. Worthy of note is also “Junk Of The Heart”, the only ballad - in the classic sense of the term - on the CD; it's a preview of what The Cardigans will later do with the almost entirely acoustic “Long Gone Before Daylight”.

Unfortunately, the Cardigans, despite their subsequent works being very appreciable, will never be able to repeat the magic of “Gran Turismo”: “Gran Turismo” because it is a journey into the shadows and lights of human feelings, because every heart has a dark side and a light one. The music takes the listener by the hand and guides them along with the seductive and never maudlin voice of Nina Persson on this journey.