On their third record, Sweden's introspective country-folk rockers Amandine crank it up to 11 and kick out the jams. Everything's relative, of course, and Solace in Sore Hands is much more Shearwater or Sun Kil Moon than Crazy Horse or Uncle Tupelo. But whereas Amandine's first two releases highlighted their elegant chamber-twang, whispered vocals, and their knack for staying just this side of precious, Solace is, by comparison, a livelier affair that nevertheless hews closely to the band's wistful aesthetic. Singer Olof Gidlöf's upper-register vocals still sound like a frail cousin to Sufjan Stevens or Sam Beam, and Solace's despondent narratives are pretty much what you'd expect from a country with the purported highest suicide rate in the world. "Who says hardship make us strong?" a perplexed and resigned Gidlöf asks on "Silver Bells," a fair barometer of Amandine's general tenor. But this time around, the guitars are more often electric than acoustic, the soft/loud contrasts greater, and the crescendos tend to burn rather than smolder. This is especially true of cuts like "Chores of the Heart," "Secrets," and album highlight "Our Nameless Will," where rousing, full-throated choruses buffet gentle verses accented with banjo, piano, accordion, glockenspiel, and violin. Other songs amplify the twang: "Standing in Line" includes a Creedence-like guitar riff and "Better Soil" is as close to a sloppy rocker as Amandine's considered arrangements will probably ever allow. The relative muscle-flexing revives the pace whenever it seems about to flag, and also helps quieter moments like "Shadow of Grief" and "Soldiers Hands" stand out in relief. This more urgent Amandine still won't do much for the hard-hearted or "those about to rock" crowds, but if you like your melancholia in the fashion of Shearwater or Norfolk & Western, then Amandine and Solace probably belong in your collection.
© John Schacht /TiVo