I’m From Barcelona
Who Killed Harry Houdini?
Rating: 3.0
Label: Mute
Second albums are notoriously difficult. After a strong debut, many listeners want more of the same, or a noticeable progression forward in sound. Bands idling in a creative morass can be snuffed out by a less-than-successful sophomore offering. On the flip side, fans don’t like it when the band changes its sound too much. It’s a slippery slope, this fame thing, where you want to please people, but not completely sell out at the same time.
Swedish collective I’m From Barcelona returns with its second album Who Killed Harry Houdini? two years after debut Let Me Introduce My Friends charmed the music world with its sweet, twee pop. But those expecting more songs about treehouses and stamp collections will find Houdini to be a much weightier affair than its predecessor. Principal songwriter Emanuel Lundgren, instead, examines the difficult passage from youth to adulthood. In fact, the lyric “In my heart / In my heart / Still a kid” shows up in two of the album’s tracks. Like memories from our adolescence, the songs on Houdini are bittersweet, filled with longing, idealism and regret.
While the new songs lack the innocence and wonder of its debut, I’m From Barcelona handle these growing pains well. There are 29 members in this band and it is impossible that all of them are depressed. Though there are some quiet tracks, most of the songs are fleshed out with dynamic rhythms and scintillating melodies. But when the hushed moments arrive, they did not disrupt the flow of the album. In fact, I’m From Barcelona display an expanding range on Houdini, refusing to make every song a pop wonderland of magic and flowers.
After beginning off with the Bowie glam of “Andy,” Lundgren’s theme of lost childhood arrives on “Paper Planes.” A tale of the secret world of a child’s bedroom, Lundgren describes the adult sounds of music and sex that penetrate the narrator’s protected microcosm. While some of the lyrics touch on the absurdism of countryman Jens Lekman, “In the flat below/ There’s the Cosby Show / Theodore is screaming at Bill / Claire is mad and Ruby is ill,” he also tries for the poignancy of dissatisfaction as well. On the upbeat “Mingus,” Lundgren desperately tries to separate himself from the picture perfect adult life of SUVs he has carved for himself and on “Headphones” the narrator escapes into a world of music to avoid the perils of impending adult life.
But it’s the tranquil numbers that really show the growth of I’m From Barcelona. No longer hiding behind the stunt of having so many members, Lundgren’s songwriting is what is front and center. “Gunhild” is a quiet reverie of lost hope, complete with disembodied background voices while “Little Ghost” is a tale of dissolution and mortality. The album ends with the full-band “Rufus,” a seven minute suite that begins slowly but flips into Young Americans Philly soul via Europe shuffle. The song collapses into an earlier melody before repeating “In my heart / Still a kid” to close the album. Lundgren may long for childhood, but Who Killed Harry Houdini? is nothing short of an adult affair.
by David Harris
