This 3" CD release is a nice idea that contains seven short and sweetsongs made for a summer in Sweden. The word "gästhamnar" translatesinto English as "guest harbours" and though I'm not quite sure what thedifference between a normal harbor and a guest harbor is, the image ofwater, boats, and people having fun certainly runs through every songon this disc. Each song uses a palette that is, in some ways, borrowedfrom each of the other songs. The synthesizers throughout these 18minutes of music always buzz in a very affecting way and the drums havethat lovely drum-stick-hitting-pillows sound that never allows thepercussion to become an intruder on the melody (no matter how drivingthe rhythms are). The songs always lilt along at a medium pace beforesurrendering to the next song and, with that surrendering, passing on anew variation that was inherent in the previous track. Patrik Torsson'scompositions remind me of childlike simplicity and, for the most part,they're never very busy. At the most there are three or fourinstruments at time, each interacting with the other to establish acurrent that swells and receeds naturally. With this in mind, I have tosay that I get bored very easily and that because much of this soundsfamiliar to me, I'm not over-impressed with Gästhamnar.The brevity of these recordings, however, kept boredom from becoming aproblem and I was able to appreciate these miniatures as being prettysongs meant for pretty days. A bit more variation would be key inmaking this more enjoyable. Eighteen minutes is plenty of time to addin extras here and there that would cure the redundancy blues.Torsson's music is innocent, sweet, and despite some monotonousqualities, enjoyable overall. I just wish he would've shaken things upa bit. Perhaps a good producer could improve the variety of soundwithout ruining Torsson's knack for decent songwriting.Read More
