The Cardigans

Today we’re launching the recommendation part of the site. I though it fitting to choose an album I recommend to everyone I meet. That album is “Super Extra Gravity” by The Cardigans. You’re probably familiar with The Cardigans for their song “Lovefool” which was on the soundtrack to “Romeo & Juliet”, but they’re so much more than that. SEG came out in the US in 2006, a decade after their Romeo & Juliet fame had faded and was their last album, you can however find singer Nina Persson currently touring with her new band A Camp.

Before we get started let’s hook you up with some clips of the album:

Now let me explain why I love this album so much. It drips beauty with every note, and every lyric, yet behind it is an edge. It’s a slow album but it’s filled with some very complex playing and all sorts of instruments layered in. I really love every single song on this album but I’m gonna go song by song and try and explain why I love them.

Losing A Friend This song is an incredibly sparse opening number. It’s driven almost entirely by a very simple banging on a snare drum and slowly builds. The slow, sparse burn of this song gives you an appreciation of the lyrics.

I’m fickle and I’m vain/And you trick me over and over again/And now I’m losing you

Godspell After such a sparse opener you get treated to this much faster rocker, that features a wonderful guitar solo. This one gives you Nina’s views on religion pretty obviously and my favorite part is when everything comes to a head right after the aforementioned solo.

its not murder its an act of faith baby

Drip Drop Teardrop is a little bit of each of the songs before it. It’s deliberate and paces itself, while being sufficiently heavy and yet keeps a hook that gets into your brain and won’t let go. It also features one of my favorite opening lines of any song.

I’m gonna watch you/while you get me wrong/I’m gonna sing/till you hate this song

Overload the video doesn’t really give you a good idea of the album version, but is so wonderful I had to include it. There’s a piano and drums on the album version that make it seem a little happier. I love how every word is dragged out. Like many of the songs here, the bridge becomes the heavy point and emotional center of the song.

i hope you’ll remember me later/we’re swimming in a puddle of sweat/i’m hot baby, don’t burn your fingers/i’m tenderly served on your plate/the band must continue to play

I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer This is the first of the long titled songs. That comma is really in the title. This is a harder and faster and I might say more fun song than the others so far. It starts off with a distorted guitar riff before the rest of the band comes in. The drums are especially perfect here. Basic but constant and driving. This is a song you can easily rock out to. My favorite verse by far is below:

Sometimes we talk over dinner like old friends/Till I go and kill the bottle/I go off over any old thing/Break your heart/and raise a glass or ten

Don’t Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds) This one fits really well with “I Need Some Fine Wine…”. They’re just a good pair. This song has an epic feel to it. It starts out simply enough but then the rest of the band comes in and the drums do a lot to add to that epic feel. I love the way the ride sounds on this track. It’s perfect. The keyboard makes it sound like there’s a whole orchestra backing the band and really makes the song. It’s really the epicness that I love about this track

And the song you sing today/wasn’t always in your head/the words you tryin’ to say/are the ones you shouldn’t ‘ve said

Little Black Cloud This is my absolute favorite song on the album. It’s upbeat, or as upbeat as this album gets and the line delivery is perfect. It tells the most straightforward, easily understood story on the album. It’s about a girl (or anyone really, it’s just assumed to be a girl because a girl is singing) who knows something bad is about to happen but instead of caring she takes goes out and let’s the music take her away from it all. To me it speaks very clearly about the power of music and that incredible feeling a song can give you, especially live. I listen to this song before every show I play. The song ends kind of ominously with all the instruments sort of dying.

oh yeah!/the music wants me tonight/what time will you let me down/i look pretty great tonight/oh yeah!/little black cloud/little black cloud/i’m not done yet

In The Round This song has a great groove that you can really get into, and like many of the other songs here it embeds itself inside your head. You just wanna move to this.

I am young, coming at you live/People gonna talk about me/When I’m done, please hang me high/For everybody to see

Holy Love Another love song. If you’ve ever had a bad crush you can probably relate to this song. This is also another song with a great groove to it and a killer backbeat. It has that beauty to it that every song on the album shares and the whole band is really at the top of their game here. It’s kinda amazing this song was never a huge giant hit, much like the rest of the album. This is also the song where the album’s name comes up. In case you were wondering the line is “Love makes you feel the super extra gravity”, but my favorite part of the lyrics is this bit

You can really have anything you want from me/Anything you ask me to, I’ll do/We can live in poverty or prosperity/Anything impossible, I’ll try/You can really have everything you ask, and I’ll be intimate with you/Giving everything over, to making everything right

Good Morning Joan The video I posted for this is a totally different version of the song. It’s like a demo version. Much slower and less produced, with a different drum part. The album version is much faster. One of the things about it that I personally like is the way the cymbals are used in this song along with a tambourine. There’s also a great use of pauses. This is probably one of the other rockers on the album overall, especially towards the end.

Just Forget about Mary/She says everything’s scary/she got locked inside her skin/Get near her, she’ll drag you in

And Then You Kissed Me (Part II) No part one isn’t on the album. It’s actually on their previous album “Long Gone Before Daylight”. It has very different lyrics but the same tune for the most part. Like the opener, this closing track is incredibly sparse, especially at first. Just a guitar and a hauntingly beautiful voice. It’s about an abusive relationship. It ends with the line “all for a happy end”. It’s a fitting ending. An odd sober song about abuse.

Slow dancing in time/My barren heart and I/Your name used to taste so sweet/Then you beat the love right out of me

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the greatest parts of this album is how it’s mixed and I’m sure a lot of credit for that goes to producer Tore Johansson.

Now before I wrap this up, I know it’s a long article, and thanks for hanging in there, I have to leave you with my favorite of all Cardigans songs. It fits here because it feels like it belongs on this album. I’ve always thought that it was actually on the “Long Gone Before Daylight” album but apparently it’s a b-side to “I Need Some Fine Wine…” and appeared on the single for it.

The song is titled “For The Boys”. It’s essentially a tale of a woman in love with a musician and both musically and lyrically it hits hard. I highly suggest if you’re going to give any of these a chance, make it this song. You can hear it in the video below.

Man, you can sing/Like you’re tryin’ to break my heart/And you can hate/And you can blame it on the stars/You’re strung up in your guitar/You’re strung out on who you are/Come on boys, it’s time you let it go