Jeniferever – Silesia (Monotreme)
4/5
By: Chris Jones
Silesia, the third album from Swedish four-piece Jeniferever, is named after the former neame Berlin’s central railway station. While there on tour, singer Kristofer Jönson learned of the death of his father, and understandably drew the tour to a premature end.
Sometime later the band began to put together their new album. The dreamlike title reflects the tone of the record, but also pays tribute in name, with particular significance to Jönson’s life, to the ideas of memory and reflection. In Kristofer’s own words, “I liked the idea of naming it after a railway station since it’s a place of motion, a place where people arrive and depart and sometimes maybe depart and never come back...”
A prominent idea on Silesia is that life has a cyclical nature, and it’s the role of hope as an agent of renewal that allows us to overcome the low times and carries with it both us and a beautiful message. Through their measured detachment, Jeniferever prove this masterfully.
The album begins with the title track, a soundscape of atmospheric tension which gives way to the upbeat ‘Waifs and Strays’ which is led by the plaintive melancholy vocals and beautiful, building guitars, which at the climax soar to give the track a triumphant sense of release into freedom.
‘The Beat of Our Own Blood’ is a more radio friendly departure from post-rock grandeur; it’s much more of a pop track. The lyrics reminisce over time on the road - the partying and hotels rooms - with a sense of sadness, but then the reaching synth chorus comes in and illuminates dealing with the problems of the past as a puzzle that can be solved by living to the beat of your own blood.
Elsewhere, ‘A Drink to Remember’ has an anaesthetic feel to its chiming guitars and slow marching drums, a drifting heavy-hearted toast to things left behind, “We cross the bridge and... and we’re stuck halfway”. ‘Dover’ opens with upbeat drums and ringing harmonics and reiterates the importance of the past, about keeping stories from fading to “stop them ageing that fast”. This is a happier retrospect with superlative drums by Fredrik Aspelin which provide a backbone through the hazy melody - the drums almost defiant - like memories themselves enduring through the haze of forgetting.
The whole thing is unapologetically emotional, roaming from contemplative stasis to climax, the contrast of which reflects the essence of the album; of retrospect and hope.
Jeniferever 'Dover' and 'Waifs & Strays' by Monotreme Records
Artists in this article: Jeniferever
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