Zeitgeist

June, 2005

by Stuart Hamilton

Gunnar is a Grammy-nominated songwriter who decided to head off to a log cabin in outermost Washington State, with the intention of creating a folk/pop opus full of haunting, funny, warm and surprising songs. And he’s had a good crack at it.

The musicians he managed to persuade to go along with him lived and cooked and played together for a whole week, from 9am to 4am every day and night, laying down their sounds in a collaborative manner. And if that smacks of hippiedom, then so what!

Amongst some interesting, and sometimes very special originals, there is a remarkable reimagining of Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)", which manages the remarkable feat of not being hurled through the window, unlike every other Talking Heads song I’ve ever heard. The music always sounds fresh and sparkling, no doubt helped by the production skills of Kent Sparling (who mixed the films "Adaptation" and "Lost in Translation").

Gunnar Madsen has been a working musician for nearly 20 years, including 10 years of road dogging it with vocal harmony outfit, The Bobs. His first solo album, “Spinning World, 13 Ways of Looking at a Waltz” was exactly that, a collection of waltzes, which ended up being licensed for use in the TV series, "Sex and the City". But this album is more an amalgamation of folk, pop and art rock, sometimes a bit too clever, but fundamentally an invigorating collection