2 posts tagged “the shop assistants”
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Track Listing
Discography
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The first time I mentioned Strawberry Fair, I had no idea it's actually just one person: Jenny Franzén. The talented Franzén wrote, played, recorded, and self-published via CD-R all the music herself.
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Her first proper CD release, I Can't Do Anything, features all the aforementioned writing, producing, recording - down to her drawing of the cover artwork. When I saw the art, I felt as if she's daydreaming about travelling (to a warmer location probably!) or singing on stage and so I've included my drawing reaction.
I was happy to
see a new recording for "Kristoffer" because I have a rough mix
recording of that song from a few years ago.
In fact, Franzén mentioned to me that all the songs on the new EP were written between 2004-2005 and meant to have been included on the My Secret Garden compilation, but she took too long mixing the songs (only "Attack!" made it on the CD).
All these songs have a very 60s girl-pop feel to them, especially "Why Won't He Answer" and "Give Up". Like the 60s girl pop bands, they all seem to involve falling in love - but in Franzén's case, it sounds like she's failing in love and you get the impression that she's painfully shy too.
I just love it!
I have included the main title track, "I Can't Do Anything", which you can download on her myspace.
I'm hoping to hear more songs from Franzén in the future. She definitely has enough songs to release a full length, back in 2003, but the plans didn't fall through. I actually have about 20 songs (from 2003-2005) and since they were all under the 3 minute mark, they all fit in one CD-R for me to listen to in my car.
There's a few gems in the various tracks, so I'm hoping they get remixed or re-recorded and release in the future. These gems includes "Lise Meitner" (a song about the nuclear scientist that was denied the Nobel Peace Prize), "Heaven Only Knows" (a Shangri-Las cover), and "Untitled" (I'm sure she's come up with a proper title now).
I'm also pleased to see that she's recently allowed "Regression" and "Football Star" for download on her last.fm. These songs, along with "Unbuoyancy", appears on her self-titled EP.
I kept skipping back to the beginning, over and over again, on the "Attack!" song, a cover of The Toys. Despite lacking the horns and soulful singing-style of the original, Franzén actually improves on the song. Strawberry Fair's version feels more modern with its lack of doo-wop backing vocals and faster pace. The song constantly moves forward, which reflects the lyrics.
During my
research, I noticed that there is an English traditional song called
"Strawberry Fair" (you can listen to samples the folky song on iTunes).
I haven't verified this, of course, but I'm guessing that Franzén took
this song for her stage name? Edit: the name comes from a My Little Pony of the same name.
As I was going to Strawberry Fair,
Singing, singing, buttercups and daisies,
I met a maiden taking her wares, fol-de-dee.
Her eyes were blue and golden her hair,
As she went on to Strawberry Fair.
Well, even if she didn't take that name, the song's still lovely - just like Jenny Franzén.
I Can't Do Anything is out now, head over to facetterad.net for general and ordering information. Also, please be sure to read Strawberry Fair - Where is Alex Taylor Now?.
03/25/2008 00:03:10
vu
my♥posts
myspace.com/strawberryfairswe
RELEASES
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Hey, this is Vu on the road. I have the following pre-written offline on my trusty laptop and I'm hoping to get an internet connection to upload the content before I leave for home (I won't be back until Tuesday).
Anyway, a while back, I was talking to a woman in Sweden called My. She was trying to get a sense of the type of music I was listening to. And I told her, I liked the Lucksmiths and Belle & Sebastian. So she told me that I had liked "_________" (a Swedish word). I asked her what that meant.
She paused for a moment. Then she answered, it's roughly translated to "sissy music". I laughed at this term. Since then, whenever anyone asks me what type of music I listen to, I tell them sissy music.
So. She introduced this band called Strawberry Fair to me. I downloaded a few songs from their website. Of course, I instantly fell in love with it.
Strawberry Fair, as I found out in my question is actually not a real band, but the stage name for Jenny Franzén.
Since I couldn't read Swedish (when I was trying to do research), I had to contact her:
1. Was "Where is Alex Taylor Now?" ever released on CD?
No, it was just released as an mp3. My friend and I was talking about what happened the Shop Assistants singer and then she thought that I could do a song about it, like the Fat Tulips song "Where's Claire Grogan Now", and then I made a mp3 of it and shared it on Soulseek. But that was four years ago.2. Is the band broken up?
No, it's just me, Jenny, who is Strawberry Fair. I play everything myself on the recordings and then several people have played with me live (members from other Swedish popbands like Funday Mornings, Tidy-Ups and Everyday Mistakes), though I actually have a live band now. I'm going to release an EP soon with four new songs, though it's a bit different from "Where's Alex Taylor" and the old songs. I don't know if you have heard it, but you can hear some songs on MySpace.
So, I'm offline right now so I can't hear the new songs. Perhaps some of you guys can tell me if it's really good. I'm almost certain it'll be excellent.
PS, this is too cute, but her email address' domain name is actually a Sanrio character, My Melody. I do not need to tell you that I had a Hello Kitty address as well, but I haven't used that email in a very long time.
Update: Since I'm finally home, I can do a little research on whatever happened to Alex Taylor. She joined the Shop Assistants band in 1985 and shortly left them in 1987 to join The Motorcycle Boy. According to discographies, it looks like the last time anyone's seen Alex Taylor was in 1990 with Here She Comes and One Note Jam.
vu 
web.telia.com/~u85613812 | www.myspace.com/strawberryfairswe
