Theresa Andersson - Hummingbird, Go!

Genre indie-pop Publisher Basin Street Records External Links Theresa Andersson Website

Indie-pop travels back to the future in Hummingbird, Go! Swedish-born musician Theresa Andersson’s 3rd CD. 50s style doo-wop, light jazz, quasi-reggae, new-age—it’s all here in a delicately nuanced and eclectic collection. The only trouble you’ll have with this CD is deciding which song is your favorite.

Admittedly, the first two songs on the CD are nothing to shout about. The first track, “Na Na Na,” has a light pop meets oldies sound with slightly off-key vocals and lyrics that make you feel mildly embarrassed about the materialistic Western life you lead — Edie Brickell anyone? The second track, “Clusters,” sounds like an intelligible Enya with chimes in the background.

However, with the third song, Andersson hits her stride and from there until the end of the CD, her amazing musicianship and vocal abilities don’t let up a single notch. In “Birds Fly Away,” and “The Kitchenettes,” Andersson sounds like she has teleported straight out of an early 60s girl band. In “Hi-Lo,” she croons a sweetly romantic love song that is stunning in its fresh sound. And in “The Waltz,” a romantic ballad with a sound as thick and rich as dark chocolate dripping off a strawberry, she’s a dead-ringer for Norah Jones.

In fact, each song puts the listener in mind of an entirely different genre, a different singer, or both. Andersson’s versatility is outstanding; while many young artists’ music sounds simply like variations on a single theme, Andersson’s sound fluctuates expertly. At one point, she reminds listeners of bluegrass maven Alison Krauss (track 10, “God’s Highway”); at another point, she belts out a sultry tune that sounds like a solo female Led Zeppelin tribute.

The entire CD was recorded in her kitchen (which you can take a peek at on her website.  And did I mention that, with only a few exceptions, all of the instruments are played by Andersson herself? Some of the instruments are quite extraordinary — Barq root beer bottles masquerade as a vibraphone; whistles tweet; clogs thump. Andersson shows her musical sophistication in the use of these “instruments”: an inexperienced musician would have made a showpiece of these unusual sounds and overwhelmed the rest of the song, turning it into nothing more than a novel cacophony. Andersson, however, blends them into the overall sound so remarkably well, they seem completely natural; she manages to fit completely different textures together into a beautiful collage. This interplay of exceptional musicianship, sound, texture, and musical color are what make Hummingbird, Go! a truly extraordinary piece of work.