At its release, Soul Rush was widely compared to Van Morrison's Astral
Weeks, both for the sound and for the idea of using a jazz band, in this
case Esbjörn Svenssons Trio, for playing rock. And just like in the
case of Astral Weeks, the result is brilliant. The orchestra manages to
create an incredibly organic sound, and even if some tracks include strings,
horns, and piano, they all sound simple and easy, in a strictly positive
sense. This sound builds up to the ecstasy that is the chief mode of the
album, sneaking into even the sad songs, becoming almost triumphant on
the title track. There are more similarities to Morrison as well, like
the bending of vocals on "Dr Zhivago's Train" -- not to mention
the repeated use of the phrase "just like a train" in the same
song -- and the soulful drive of "Something New." But in spite
of these, Dunger mixes genres in such a skilful way that the album should
not be restricted to comparisons with one single album or artist. The
main connection to Morrison is simply that parts of this album are blue-eyed
soul with a big portion of country. In fact, it does not even sound like
anything Dunger himself has done before. Here he has left the winding
melodies and long improvisations of earlier albums and, while still twisting
every word before letting it go, he sings in a more audible way. And Dunger's
voice is one of his biggest assets, from the warm humming of "Pass
the Chains" to the slightly shrill shouting of "Ballad of a
Relationship." (by Lars Lovén, AMG)
|