A Camp - Colonia (Reveal Records)
4/5
By: Emily Kaiser
A Camp realeases a strangely theatrical offering in Colonia, the follow-up LP to their 2001 debut. The second album of collaboration between Nina Persson of The Cardigans and Niclas Frisk of Atomic Swing has an exaggerated dominance that flips and flairs so the pair's expressions can be see from the back of the room. But don't be fooled into subtle spectacle, as most tracks hold an interlude-esque melancholy that borders on the surreal, but no less serious. Are these croons dreams? Or just fiction?
As a whole a bit homogeneous, each track does have a strength in its own performance. A Camp succeeds in making an orchestra out of what could be mistaken as a molehill of a duo. Nina Persson's voice sits in a corner and barrels indiscriminately - clear, strong, and affected, she doesn't even seem to try, yet wraps the listener up in the effortlessness of each song.
The rocking-chair security of the melodies lulls for sure, but listen to the lyrics and Colonia is quite definitely about sex, drugs, and rock & roll. Yet A Camp remains bitterly aggrieved about it all - through the jaded attitudes of tracks like 'Golden Teeth and Silver Medals' or 'I Signed the Line' is where you find the skeletons in the closet of an otherwise blissfully restful character. They're not making miracles with words or indeed sound, but an ice cool feeling of disassociation goes far for the whole album's intrigue and power.
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