Yesterday I mentioned Labrador – without a doubt one of my favorite record labels in the world. Today, I want to hype up another Labrador band, probably my favorite in fact: Club 8. I raved about “Whatever You Want,” the opening single from their new record back in May.
That album The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming (eMusic) is out now, and I’m happy to report that it’s every bit as good as I was hoping. “Whatever You Want” remains the most immediately catchy track, but plenty of these songs are stunning in their own right.
In particular, the opening track “Jesus, Walk With Me” has to be one of the most tender, personal, and heartfelt songs of this millennium. Karolina Komstedt has always had a beautiful voice, but this time she officially transcends the mortal plane, resting alone with a broken heart and the sparse accompaniment of a finger-picked guitar. It’s also one of the most honest and compassionate musical takes on the meaning of faith I’ve ever heard.
The third track “Football Kids” strikes a balance between the first two, with a quiet verse that bleeds into a rousing chorus and the light touch of an organ.
The rest can’t quite live up to the magic of those first three tracks, with a few too many low-tempo atmospheric tracks, but there is more than enough to keep you interested. The upbeat tandem of “Heaven” and “When I Come Around” anchor the middle of the record, while “Leave the North” may be the darkest sounding track they’ve ever produced. The record closes out with a few tracks that hearken back to their earlier work – gentle acoustic ballads that make you remember what it was like to fall in love for the first time. And it’s all capped off by the title track, a pure demonstration of the joy of song.
I’ve always felt that Club 8 had an amazing talent for conveying seasonal relationships. The same song could feel like a perfect summer song in July and then exemplify the beauty of a long winter night a few months later. This facet of their sound is fully explored on The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming. On song after song I can hear, all at once, the gentle rays of the spring sun, an idyllic summer afternoon, the leaves of autumn drifting slowly to the ground, and a blanket of winter snow. And most of all you sense the beauty of now – this one moment in time – and how it relates to every other imaginable instant.