Crossfade - Carousel

Crossfade – Carousel

3
(1)

So, what do Crossfade sound like all these years later? It’s more aligned to the contemporary jazz side of the west coast genre rather than AOR.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: Crossfade
ALBUM: Carousel (EP)
LABEL: Fenix Music
SERIAL: ELM 192
YEAR: 2019
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Sweden

LINEUP: Göran Edman – lead and backing vocals * Lars Hallbäck – guitars * Richard Stenström – keyboards.

Additional Musicians: Felix Lehrmann – drums * Johan Granström – bass * Andreas Ekstedt – percussion * Anneli Axon – backing vocals

TRACK LISTING: 01 Carousel * 02 Taking Me Home * 03 Let The Sunshine In * 04 Dancing In The Moonlight * 05 Love Of Mine

RATING: 70/100

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

This Swedish project band who dabble in the West Coast style have been featured here on GDM previously, nearly two decades ago in fact. That album ‘White On Blue’ came out in 2004 (click the Crossfade tag below), but unfortunately at the time I described it as bland and weak. The three main guys (Edman, Hallbäck, Stenström) are still involved, but this third effort does offer up an unusual approach.

‘Carousel’ is only a five-tracker and back in 2018/2019 when this was recorded, the idea was to release three albums with a smaller quantity of songs and to spread them out over successive years. This hasn’t quite worked out for Crossfade as ‘Carousel’ is still the only album from the trilogy that has been released so far, and we are now three years on at the time of review (2022).

The Songs

So, what do Crossfade sound like all these years later? It’s more aligned to the contemporary jazz side of the west coast genre (think Steely Dan or Chicago), rather than a lean toward AOR such as State Cows for instance.

The five tracks are pretty cruisy and easy on the ear. The title track is a very jazzy affair with some nice twists and turns. ‘Taking Me Home’ is a choice vocally dominated tune, the harmony vocals are lovely plus the Toto like rhythmic shuffle is a bonus.
‘Let The Sunshine In’ with its acoustic led melodies is perhaps the most lsid back. Maybe a comparison to American band Venice is in order?

‘Dancing In The Moonlight’ (at a whopping 9 min 13 sec) has an unusual entrance, taking all of 2 min 30 sec to get going. Once it does take off I am reminded of Bill Champlin‘s solo work. ‘Love Of Mine’ at 7 and a half minutes is the second longest track of the five, and it touches on a bit of everything. There’s a hint of blues and classic rock, maybe more so than the obvious west coast reference points associated with this band.

In Summary

That’s the first part of the trilogy out of the way, let us hope that the other two eventually get released. In the meantime, take a spin on this Swedish carousel. Some of you might enjoy the ride.

Video

Taking Me Home

Taking Me Home


Contact Us | Edit User Profile | Using a VPN


What is your rating for the album (music)?

Click on a star (click twice) to rate it!

Average rating 3 / 5. Vote count: 1

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this album..

Leave a Reply