Swedish singer/songwriter
Lasse Lindh first appeared on American shores in 2002 with a swell little acoustic/electronic album called
You Wake Up at Sea Tac that sounded like a much less precious
Belle & Sebastian.
Lindh's follow-up was written and recorded with the same collaborator, producer Claes Bjorklund, but this time,
Lindh and Bjorklund are working under the "band" name
Tribeca.
Kate-97 is a more lighthearted album than its subdued predecessor, mixing the
Lindh/Bjorklund originals with a handful of heartfelt covers of cheesy Europop songs from the '80s like
a-ha's "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and
Alphaville's "Forever Young." Reworked to the point that they might as well be originals, the covers fit perfectly alongside songs like the groovy, danceable single "Teenage," which mixes the wry adolescent angst of classic
Smiths with the sequencer-driven beats of prime
New Order. A fun but not silly or frivolous record,
Kate-97 continues
Lasse Lindh's winning streak, under whatever name. ~ Stewart Mason