Micadelia – Free Ride

Free Ride is a bit of an odd debut album for Swedish singer Micadelia, as with the exception of one song, it's a covers album. That means we only have one  song - "Sadness" - on which to judge her songwriting ability, but that isn't the point: this is an album of performances, of re-interpretations. Despite the fact that there's no common theme to the song or artist choice (featuring two Led Zeppelin selections, two from Neil Young, and others from Nirvana, Robyn/Kleerup, The Beatles, and so on) the album largely works because of its conciseness and quite a breezy, laid-back feel. None of the songs here  are hugely challenging nor bleak, and as such they suit Mika Sundkvist's soft voice.The song choices are quite unusual, but wise given the kind of singer Micadelia is, and the kind of musicians she has to back her up. "Polly" might be a bit of an oddity in the Nirvana catalogue, but it's ideal for Micadelia, who makes it a little shorter and more upbeat. Backed by woozy minimoog, the song yoyos comfortably between its choruses. Choruses, in fact, lead to a minor criticism of the album - at least three of the songs, "Polly", Nick Drake's "Free Ride", and Jack Lee-penned "Hanging on the Telephone", rely very heavily on a very basic verse-chorus structure that gets a little tiresome. Luckily, the other songs are a tad more bold so the album doesn't fall into this trap as a whole. "Long, Long, Long" isn't an obvious Beatles song to choose, and not a song I'd personally rank among Harrison's best, but it works here, interestingly seeming to play down the often remarked-upon religious tones Harrison wrote into the song.Similarly, the Led Zeppelin covers are quite effective too. Not too surprisingly, Micadelia chooses two softer songs from the catalogue of the 60s/70s rock gods - "Bron-Y Aur Stomp" and "Going to California". The effects put on the vocals during the former are a bit curious but not offensive, and generally the two work well. There's an affinity for Neil Young too, especially in the context of "Cinnamon Girl" which closes the album with a restatement of the laid-back atmosphere that has dominated many of the album's preceding tracks. The only real problem is the really disastrous effort at Robyn's "With Every Heartbeat", which loses the pace and compulsiveness of the original, instead coming across as turgid and tiresome. Free Ride is quite a restrained debut, almost like an extended demo or trial run. Apparently Micadelia is thinking of releasing more self-penned material in future, which is an interesting prospect given that "Sadness", her only writing contribution here, is as quietly, unassumingly impressive as the album as a whole. 72%Micadelia on MySpace