Thomas Dybdahl : 'B A Part' EP
Released: Out Now!!!
Label: Last Suppa/PIAS
Thomas Dybdahl is a Scandinavian singer-songwriter with an arsenal of work under his belt, but rarely has that work strayed outside his homeland of Norway and so to many his EP will act as a debut offering before his latest album hits the shops on September 1st. A handsome fellow, Dybdahl writes about lust and love and all-things emotional, so the question is does he do so successfully, skirting clear of the clichés that can dog those subjects and setting himself apart from the plethora of rival acts focusing their songs on similar sentiments. Unfortunately for me and possibly you too that question isn’t as easy to answer as it is to ask, but I’ll give it my best shot.
Opening track on this near twenty-minute EP is ‘B A Part’, a stripped down introduction relying almost exclusively on the vocal and if you’re going to write a song that way the vocal better have something going for it. The good news is it does, delivered as it is with the sort of coolness that seems to follow all people from Scandinavia around as Dybdahl drawls his way through the track. He sounds his age, that being a fresh-faced thirty and it’s that feeling that adds weight to the vocal. He seems worldly-wise, almost reassuring, but his almost baritone crackle smacks of cynicism too. I must confess it isn’t what I’d expected – I’ve found most music from the region to have an underlying happiness, a carefree flow, but this doesn’t glow at all – musically it appears to offer a dim view of life, reality wrapped in a ballad, and it’s probably a more accurate depiction of what actually makes humans tick than most other things you’ll hear. That said the lyrics themselves are actually full of hope – this song encouraging its character or indeed the listener to be a part of life, though the line ‘no matter how pathetic you are’ reminds you straight away that Dybdahl isn’t quite as happy-go-lucky as this song would’ve first implied.
‘Pale Green Eyes’ takes a while to warm up but it’s clear why – this song is thoroughly emotional, it’s writer sounding close to tears as he confesses love to someone - possibly the female whose vocal assistance is beautifully layered into this song – whilst doubting his own place on earth. It’s a superb song this one, far better than the opener melodically, and a real marker for the album that is to follow this EP. Writing about love is probably one of the easiest things to do lyrically but Dybdahl has woven in a huge chunk of doubt and self-pity, the sort of darker emotions that often hide behind the happier ones but that are just as important. That Thomas Dybdahl can do this so cleverly and so subtly deserves high praise and indeed it’s easy to see why his work is rapidly ridding itself of the shackles of its moderately-sized heritage, emerging onto an international and indeed commercial stage ready for the critics that await it.
The last two tracks on the EP aren’t quite of the standard set by ‘Pale Green Eyes’ but I’d challenge any vocalist to show the passion and emotion that is portrayed on ‘Stay Home’, a haunting and beautiful love cry that suffers only through its over-indulgent duration. The thing is, though, this record sounds auto-biographical, perhaps why it is self-titled, and if six-minutes is the time the writer needs to express this brand of emotions then six minutes it is.
Finally the record ends with a well positioned live version of ‘John Wayne’, taken from a gig in London earlier this year. Euphoric in its meaning and excellent in its delivery, this track is perhaps placed where it is to encourage listeners to see Thomas Dybdahl when he next performs live on these shores. It’s worked – I’ll be there.
8/10
Words: Benjamin Coley
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