A Lantern and a Bell

Description

Seabirds, distorted sounds, and then the line of text “Mighty ships hung over ground” (powerful ships suspended in the air). The maritime theme does not merely introduce the album. It permeates the entirety of A Lantern and a Bell, the first album by Loney Dear since his debut in 2017 on Peter Gabriel’s label, Real World. The soundscape is stripped down to the extreme, with Emil Svanängen’s unmistakable falsetto here very much front and center in the mix. From a strictly musical point of view, A Lantern and a Bell could be described as sublime, minimalist sacred music. But it is also simply a story of friendship and trust developed between Emil and producer Emanuel Lundgren, brought together in their mythical studio on the island of Södermalm in Stockholm. The setup: Emil’s voice, a piano, a discreet double bass, a bit of strings, and a few diffuse maritime sounds. That’s all. The songs themselves seem simple, harmonically accessible but all the more existentially provocative. The album’s strongest moment is undoubtedly “Go Easy On Me Now,” a true tour de force.