Album Review: Jennie Abrahamson - 'Gemini Gemini'.
Swedish singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Jennie Abrahamson already had most of the songs of her latest and newly released album 'Gemini Gemini' ready when in 2012 Peter Gabriel asked her to be a singer in his band along with Linnea Olsson. Both singers opened all concerts during this overall nearly three-year-long tour as well, presenting two songs each. It was Abrahamson's fantastic choice of the album's opening song 'Snowstorm' and perhaps her best song 'Phoenix' which mesmerised the audience right from the start. But the actual album has much more to offer.
In times of rather blunt dance pop ruling the charts and the music mainstream, listening to 'Gemini Gemini' shows how dance beats and melodies (at their finest!) should be combined. Still, the best about the whole music is Abrahamson's voice: her vocal abilities are simply stunning as she reaches the high notes in a way that sends the listener right back to Kate Bush's early days while having a relatively low range as well. Nevertheless Jennie Abrahamson knows how to create her own sound and style, using rather sparse yet tense arrangements, mostly percussive and synthesizer-laden ('Wolf') or very down-to-earth and mellow which the beautiful piano ballad 'Lake Geneva' perfectly shows.
The album's lyrics range from being romantic in an unpretentious way ('Phoenix') to deep topics like 21st century gender issues ('The War') or environmental problems ('Snowstorm'). Together with the impressive vocals and the sometimes eerie and still danceable music a very special atmosphere evolves which is reminiscent of the coldness of 80s dark wave due to the synthesizers and the steady rhythms. The percussive elements of world music ('Let's Have A Child') give the music a whole new and broad direction as well. Gladly the whole album isn't overproduced, even though it has a punchy sound at times. In fact, the production is powerful as well as dynamic, giving the instruments and the vocals all the space they need. Of course, Jennie Abrahamson produced the album herself.
Speaking about today's pop music, Jennie Abrahamson raised the bar with 'Gemini Gemini' as all songs keep the very high level of superb songwriting, fantastic arrangements, a great production and a cohesive atmosphere with strong vocals. In short: it is a masterpiece!
Album review by Wolfgang Merx.