Marit Bergman – The Tear Collector
Posted by Jim on Mar 31, 2009 in Music | 0 comments
Marit Bergman’s music sounds exactly as one could imagine Liz Phair sounding if she stopped dicking around trying to impress the kids playing Xbox and watching 90210 and began writing music for adults about adult things. Sure, Liz has the whole shock thing down. She’s written songs on topics from the health benefits of semen (HWC) to an ode to lust (Flower), that, while not completely ineffective, is pretty dirty. Yet it’s only when she locks in on an age appropriate target or feeling that she gets anywhere close to the bullseye (Divorce Song – Classic!).
Marit Bergman is just as indie as Phair, and their voices carry a similar plaintive timbre. Yet while images of Phair posing in her underpants can be found quickly via google search, Marit holds her cards closer to her body. And while Phair’s music fills in the all of the holes for the listener (pun intended due to the suggenstive matter of her lyrics), Bergman creates interesting songs that work as pastiche, vignette, love song and short story, yet leaves enough of the song open that you don’t feel you’ve been pandered to. It’s intelligent pop music for adults, and, rather than only being available primarily in her home country of Sweden, because in a perfect world, Bergman’s name would be everywhere.
Bergman’s new CD, The Tear Collector, is another rewarding collection by a talented artist (there’s also a 2-disc bonus edition featuring eight extra songs released last year on her website, which is what this review is based on). As a whole, the disc really changes things up and Bergman takes some risks with her sound. At times, it’s genre defying: the a capella Maybe, We’ll See has an old time quality and Bergman’s phrasing is charming as she sings about home life, Tony is almost chamber folk, and tracks I Followed Him Around and Traveling Companion wouldn’t feel out of place being heard Broadway Musical. 300 Days in a Row could have been a Dusty in Memphis throwaway.
Lyrically, Bergman’s songs present a great batch of variety, mainly due to the nuances she throws into each track. I Followed Him Around is equal parts embarrassing and moving; Tony, a song about an ended relationship contains the line, “Don’t remember much but tongues and thighs that ached/and the when I got home they told me that my cousin/had passed away”. Clearly, these aren’t cookie cutter pop songs, but idosyncratic moments taken from real life experiences, which makes them so much more heartening.
Not everything works. Let Go! is filler that still has me scratching my head and Snow on the Tenth of May treads water, but the sentiment is sweet. In the Morning peters out without giving any sort of chorus. Granted, these are all minor complaints that are easily remedied with itunes.
I’ve posted a direct link to Bergmans site, where you can order and/or download her album and purchase songs individually. At least throw her 99 cents and let her know that there’s more to America’s musical tastes than Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers!
www.maritbergman.net