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This is the second album from
Norwegian songbird Lene Marlin, still a mere
slip of a thing in her late teens yet writing her own
songs with the maturity of a fully-fledged songwriter.
By her own admission she was astonished by the success
of Sitting Down Here in 2000, a song that found its
way into the heart of commercial radio. The album
Playing My Game was also a big hit worldwide, even
earning her an MTV award for Best Scandinavian
Artist.
There was a lingering suspicion
for me, however, that the songs, finely crafted and
heartfelt as they were, did not hold the interest
sufficiently for an entire album, serving rather
better as pleasant wallpaper. That suspicion continues
into Another Day, although this time Lene (pronounced
Lay-ner) has taken on producer Mike Hedges, whose CV
impressively lists credits for the likes of U2,
The Cure and Travis.
The result is a more acoustic song, typified by the spiky guitars of
Sorry, which is also decorated with a nice string part
to single it out as one of the record's strongest
tracks. Similarly, the single You Weren't There,
despite sliding close to Cranberries territory,
presses the right radio buttons, as it were.
As indicated by the cover,
Another Day is perhaps an even more sombre record than
Playing My Game, which was highly introspective.
Fight Against The Hours illustrates this by featuring
a barely audible vocal over a dark, pulsing bass.
Meanwhile the intimate My Love is a heartfelt wish to
"please come and find me my love, I'm ready to come
home."
I personally prefer Marlin's
voice when she's set over a more electronic
production, which would bring her more into the
terrain of Beth Hirsch or Dot Allison.
Whilst there's plenty of cool sophistication to
commend Another Day, the feeling remains that the
music is just going through the motions.
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