The Concretes - Chosen One

On continues my week-long posting spree... and yes, I'll continue on with my "Swedish Rampage", as Vu calls it...

Since no one on W♥M has covered The Concretes yet, I thought I would give them their due. The band was formed in 1995 by Victoria Bergsman (lead vocals), Maria Eriksson (guitar, vocals), and Lisa Milberg (drums, vocals). They grew to 8 members, including Martin Hansson (bass), Ulrik Karlsson (horns, piano), Per Nyström (organ), Ludvig Rylander (horns, piano), and Daniel Värjö (guitar, mandolin).

They released their first album, "The Concretes", in 2003. Their second album was released in 2006, and was titled "The Concretes In Colour". Both albums showcased their talent for writing simple yet catchy pop songs filled with rich orchestration and fronted by Victoria's lovely vocals.

A few months after the release of their second album, Victoria decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career^[1]. While the band was devastated, they decided to continue on as The Concretes, and released their third album, "Hey Trouble" in 2007. Lisa has taken on most of the vocal duties, and while I find Victoria's voice more immediately likable, the songs that I've heard from the latest album are still not bad at all.

It's not easy to pick a favorite song since they have so many good ones, but I suppose I'll go with "Chosen One", from their second album. Also be sure to check out the video... it's quite good.

[1] Victoria's solo project is named Taken By Trees, whose debut album, "Open Field", was released in June 2007.

P.S. - Shout out to my friend Lisa, who first introduced me to The Concretes.

 August 22, 2007 10:05 PM  Randy my♥posts theconcretes.com myspace