SVENSSON – FRENCH WAVE AROUND THE WORLDWith the resonant yet fragile voice of a fallen angel, delicate and wild lyrics that flirt with disaster and despair and a Franco-British pop sound that’s working hard to reconcile Serge Gainsbourg, The Cure and Nick Cave, SvenSson has always followed his own unique muse.Two years ago SvenSson’s album ‘Perdition’ was widely acclaimed both in Australia (with enthusiastic reviews in Melbourne-based daily newspaper The Age and weekly music magazine Beat, along with airplay and interviews on 3RRR, PBS, SBS...) and in France (by the renowned Paris-based cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles, major radio station France Inter and dozens of national music mags, local TV stations and radio shows). And now the Frenchman with the Scandinavian name is ready to return in 2009 with a beautifully sensual new album titled ‘Cyprine’.SvenSson’s music is cultivated from the influences and atmospheres of Joy Division and Lloyd Cole, as well as the literary flavours of modern french songwriters. And his latest release combines an unrestrained mix of electric outpourings with moments of naked grace…There’s the curious singalong that is the contentiously-title ‘Fucking Shit’, already a hit on Australian airwaves. Or the ‘Initials P.J.’ mash-up – an eclectic mix of Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Initials B.B.’ tribute to Brigitte Bardot and Nick Cave & PJ Harvey’s ‘Henry Lee’ ballad. Not to mention ‘Gô/Nô-Gô’ a classy pop-rock single that’s already garnering airplay on major French and Swiss radios such including Virgin Radio and Couleur 3. Both songs have also been chosen for the Japanese Ward/iTunes compilation ‘French Pops 50’. In short, Svensson’s new album is a collection of pure ‘so french’ pop jewels.In concert, either in smoky pub cellars or under the bright lights of big stages, the young alchemist from Toulouse is joined by folk guitars, violin and ‘cellobass’. And he always gives it his all. This baroque folk quartet played over 100 gigs in France, Australia and Denmark on the ‘Better Days’ and ‘Perdition’ tours, sharing unplugged gigs with some of the most illustrious representatives of the French scene, including Miossec, Daniel Darc, Da Silva, Prohom, Nicholson, Verone and Miro. Not to mention renowned American acts such as Andrew Bird, The National and The Posies.SvenSson and his inspired band members – who are joined from time to time by a pianist and a drummer, a few amps and electric guitars – will be on the road again in 2009 on the ‘Cyprine World Tour’, a much-anticipated event in Japan, Australia and France. And who knows how many other countries will fall under the spell of SvenSson’s stylish French wave pop tunes?And for all non-French people who are wondering exactly what ‘Cyprine’ means? Well all you have to do is ask. You won’t be disappointed…"How did France's new legion of brooding chansonniers get out of the maison before MySpace? The musicians' end of the online social labyrinth is awash with French troubadours who cite the literate likes of Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Jacques Brel in their "influences" column. Toulouse singer-songwriter SvensSon infiltrated Australia by clicking mice with simpatico locals Jo Meares and Chuck Jenkins, and plays his first handful of gigs in Melbourne next week. While a passing acquaintance with the French language can only aid empathy with his urgent, close-miked murmur, the darkly overcast weather of his second album needs no translation. There are shades of Joy Division's restrained panic in the rhythmic electric rumble of Partout, O and Vienne, and the indie bookshop gloom of the '80s raincoat movement permeates the acoustic tracks like Lloyd Cole's aftershave. The ominous interplay of cello and violin is a recurring delight, especially on the panoramic title track and the mysterious Japanese travelogue, Roppongi. Whatever F--ing Shit is about, it's hard not to join in the chorus." --- by Michael Dwyer --- THE AGE --- Melbourne / Australia"In virtually every other facet of life the French are light years ahead of us, with their sophistication, their panache, their je ne sais quois – save in one arena, that of rock music, where our Gallic cousins have traditionally been irredeemably gauche. Think Johnny Halliday. Think Vanessa Paradis. Think Air (OK, they are actually quite cool). But Svensson torpedoes any lazy escargot stereotypes with his second album Perdition, a coruscating set of roustabout bar-room chansons, introspective ballads and moody French noir. While there are definite echoes of The Cure and Edwyn Collins – Svensson is clearly a diligent student of the best of Anglo indie music over the past two decades – he serves up an essentially unclassifiable sound all his own. Svensson’s certainly a cool dude, with a dark brooding LP cover featuring Perdition transliterated into Russian, Greek and Arabic. And who could resist his husky Gauloise-tinged voice, which conjures up atmospheric Parisian boulevards and mist snaking around Montmartre lampposts, or Brassaï’s noir photographs of lamplighters, lowlifes and flaneurs in the 30s. Ô is a simply perfect piece of French pop, a rollickingly intense Gainsbourg-esque epic, while the moody Echolalie perfectly captures a summer epiphany on the Pont-Neuf. On Roppongi, Svensson evokes a cool Tokyo expat district with a neurotic cello, perfectly encapsulating urban paranoia and dislocation. The closing Décomposition is an eight-minute triumph, building via a jagged drumbeat to a plaintive crescendo via some delightfully glissando piano arpeggios and sinewy cello (...)"--- by Alexander Maxwell --- BEAT --- Melbourne / Australia ACHETER L'ALBUM "PERDITION" EN FRANCE : CLIQUEZ CI-DESSOUSBUY THE "PERDITION" ALBUM IN FRANCE : CLICK ABOVESVENSSON LIVE : WATCH THE SLIDE SHOWS BELOW OR THE VIDEO ON THE LEFT !!!SVENSSON LIVE : WATCH THE SLIDE SHOWS BELOW OR THE VIDEO ON THE LEFT !!!SVENSSON LIVE : WATCH THE SLIDE SHOWS BELOW OR THE VIDEO ON THE LEFT !!!Festival Pause Guitare - SvenSson + Miossec - Albi, 07/07/2007Pictures by Jean-Roch Mialet (c)2007Festival Rocktambule - SvenSson + Prohom - Bourgoin, 13/10/2007Pictures by Olivier Humeau, R-X, and Dafiid (c)2007