Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream

I was definitely a fan of Loney, Dear’s debut (internationally) Loney, Noir, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with the sophomore followup Dear John.  Perhaps I was expecting a little more from Sweden’s Emil Svanangen this time around–a sort of maturation of sound.  But the songs on Dear John still possess a sort of infantile fragility to them, without the resilience that I was hoping for.  Ultimately, it just comes down to the fact that I don’t think Loney, Dear has enough to distinguish himself from the zillions of talented acts.

What is going to keep someone coming back to listening to his music? Well, the more urgent “Distant” is a good start, with his choral cacophony at the end of the track.  “Harsh Words” and “I Was Only Coming Out” are both rather earnest attempts by Loney to incorporate more instrumentation and emotion into his songs, but they ultimately stall despite their brevity (Check out the whistling in “I Was Only Coming Out”, by the way!).  The lead track “Airport Surroundings” is perhaps the brighest light on this album, with an edgier Loney coming out of his shell with chants of “You’re the one I want” and “Nah-Nah-Nahs”.

Check out Dear, John.

Listen to “Airport Surroundings”

Listen to “Distant“