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Peter Morén - The Last Tycoon (Wichita)
UK release date: 5 May 2008
3 stars
Peter Morén - The Last Tycoon

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track listing

1. Reel To Real
2. Missing Link
3. Old Love
4. Le Petit Coeur
5. Tell Me In Time
6. My Match
7. This Is What I Came For
8. Twisted
9. Social Competence
10. I Don't Gaze At the Sky for Long

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With the ink barely dry on the artwork from the Peter Bjorn and John album, the voice of the trio sneaks out his own long player of confidential songwriting.

It proves to be the ideal album with which to see the day in, whether last thing at night or first thing in the morning. Essentially it's just Morén and his guitar, sharing intimate asides through song, though as the album progresses he reveals himself as something of a one-man band.

What really appeals about the presentation of this album is the spontanaeous nature of its recording. Several times Morén strains for higher notes and misses them, but it suits the music for these bits to be left in, as the emotion behind them is key. The colourful Missing Link is a prime example, conveying its author's joy as he announces "I've found the missing link".

Morén's a bit of an old romantic really, as the outpourings on Old Love confirm. Sometimes he sounds like a Scandinavian Neil Finn, particularly in Tell Me In Time, where he reveals his vulnerability in the lyric "tell me in time so that I won't be completely lost", before a coda rich in colour from harmonica and vibraphone.

Just occasionally he overdoes the accompaniment, the songs fighting to get through several instrumental layers when perhaps just one will do, as in the closing pages of Social Competence. Sometimes this tactic works, however, and enhances the music in the bright colours of Old Love, or the soft handclaps that accompany This Is What I Came For, the enchanting emotional centre of the album.

But again this comes back to the relative lack of polish in the production, which serves its author well, as there are few barriers between singer and listener. The latter really feels drawn in to Morén's world and his day-to-day dreams and emotions.

Less is certainly more where Morén is concerned, and the closing I Don't Gaze At The Sky For Long is a note of contented thanks over a gently lapping acoustic guitar and piano. He may be lovelorn at times, but there is a true sense of peace permeating the album, and as he comes to rest at the end, it has been truly found.


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