Act like you mean it, heart and soul

I'd been meaning to write about Norwegian singer Venke Knutson's latest abum for quite some time, and then Jessica Poptastic beat me to it--still, I'll take just a few moments. To be honest, I probably haven't given it a fair trial, but my preliminary runthroughs just didn't leave very much sticking with me at all. Venke's got a voice that has the capacity to be a song's greatest asset--it's distinctive, sweet, perfect when delicacy or fragility or vulnerability is required--but if it's matched with the wrong song, all the things that make it special are covered up or outweighed by the dullness of the song. Her cover of "Holiday" was actually a cover worth having, because matched with her voice, the song suddenly took on whole new layers; most of this latest album, though, doesn't seem to reach highs like that or like those of her previous albums. It's not necessarily that the songs are bad, but I just don't know that they'll have the staying power for me of my favorite songs from her.

That said, for some reason, I've latched onto one of the tracks, and it's the one I'm posting. It's entirely possible that I'll just keep moving from track to track, finding a new one to be taken with every now and then, and eventually come to appreciate the whole album, but right now, this is my song of choice. Even listening to bits of the album again while writing this, actually, I'm liking it more and more, though. Maybe initially listening to it when I was in the middle of repeatedly listening to and writing about my favorite singles of 2007 was a bad idea? Then again, will I really listen to it again in a week?

You're So Cool--the pop-rock stylings of this song don't really put Venke's sweet voice to its best use, but the fact that the rocking out is kept to a minimum so as not to overpower her voice is definitely in the song's best interest. It's a light pop-rock song that may be disposable, but it's fun, with a catchy guitar riff that keeps it going.

To buy Venke Knutson's third album, Crush, go here (physical)--I've got no idea if that site still ships to the U.S. since they redesigned themselves, though. "Crazy Over You" is a sunny pop song worth a listen if you're interested, and I like "That's How The Story Goes."

Next up: maybe something Danish.