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Last Updated: 7/15/2009

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Status: Single
Country: NO
Signup Date: 8/27/2004
Monday, November 26, 2007 
Magnet - The Simple Life

    * The Simple Life
    * Filter U.S. Recordings
    * www.homeofmagnet.com
    * www.myspace.com/magnet
    * Album Rating: 7.5 / 10

The older I get, the more I believe I'd be happier if I moved to a small west coast town and spent the rest of my life working in a comic shop or growing my own food on my own land. After all, the more one simplifies the less stress one carries in their shoulders. My days would be occupied with quiet, contemplative walks in the woods, Sunday marshmallow roasts in the backyard, afternoons of writing in my living room with the family pet for company. It's the kind of life my dad would call me a lazy bum for and demand to know why he spent all that money on college.

Luckily, my sentiments are shared. Norwegian folk pop artist Magnet has titled his fourth full-length album The Simple Life and it is indeed the perfect escape for those seeking serenity. Magnet, a.k.a. singer/songwriter Even Johansen, has written, performed, and produced nearly every song here by his lonesome, a testament to his abilities. Dreamy string arrangements, idyllic guitar rhythms, and evocative percussion conjure up pastoral images of campfire gatherings and dazzling night skies. The album is introspective yet brilliantly lush, giving cosmic significance to inner dreams and uncertainties. Magnet's gentle voice sings of relationship worries with both longing and graceful acceptance, sounding like a warmer Chris Martin.

Magnet earned his name from an experience when he was thirteen: he had anemia as a child and was sent to a medicine doctor for a cure. The doctor tattooed a magnet on his body, as if to draw iron to his blood. Johansen passed out from the pain but awoke to find he no longer experienced anemic symptoms. He grew up playing his father's four-string guitar. After holding membership in the bands Libido and Chocolate Overdose, Johansen released his first solo album Quiet & Still in 2001 and has been a solo act ever since.

The initial track "Gospel Song" sets the mood right away, starting off with a handclap beat complemented by deep bass drum. This is soon interspersed with soft humming, finger-picked guitar, wistful strings, and eventually a sympathetic harmonica solo. The layers of instrumentation weave together seamlessly as Magnet sings his epiphany "With your heart in the future and your head in the past/ There's nothing in between that's gonna last." His immense approach to drumming that can best be described as "tribal" continues on tracks like "Lonely No More" and "Slice of Heaven," giving the record a communal folk atmosphere.

Magnet's style of epic-yet-unpretentious also carries well into the Bob Marley cover "She's Gone," giving the song a resonance that nearly exceeds the original. "A Little Happier" is quiet and adoring without being boring or false, sounding much like a riverside banjo ditty with organic whistles thrown in purely for the pleasure of whistling. The Simple Life couples technical skill with poignant sincerity.

Pretty as it is comforting, The Simple Life is bound to appeal to fans of majestic pop acts like Feist and Pete Yorn. The smooth and easy melodies are conducive to thoughtful moments of introspection but are active enough to keep one optimistic. As the title track goes, Magnet's latest effort allows listeners to take a breather and "draw a breath of simple life."

[Karen Looney is a music journalist and creative writer from Chicago with a penchant for jumping up and down aimlessly. Some people find this endearing.]
http://www.stereosubversion.com/album-reviews/magnet-simple-life/
12:42 PM
 
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