Alderman - A Place With No Name

Hear The Track Here

Another artist I have known it seems like forever and another that has consistently pleased and often confounded me by the musical directions he has gone into. I think the very first track I ever heard from him was Catch a Glimpse of Wonderland (February 2004) in which he set out his musical stall very nicely. A taut, intense electronica workout that showed he had a different style than the others in his field. Since that time he has proved that time and time again, he knows what he wants and he gets it. It helps, of course, to have your fortunes mixed with the likes of Jim-n-Lisa (the collab offshoot Pond Surfers), Rey Varela (who guest warbles on this track) and other luminaries of this little scene. Course, it don't mean diddly if Alderman didn't come up consistently with the goods and he does more often than not.

He is also an artist who can literally touch people with his work, I have seen it time and again. One of the reasons I gave his Into The Light (March 2005) a Must Have is not just because the music was good, but because the song said something, and in so saying touched the essential human in many of his listeners. The same can be said of the first real J-n-L/Alderman collab Diamond Dust (June 2005) also, btw, a Must Have. So what is it then, that makes Alderman so special? Well, I of course can only speak from a personal angle but I think many people like this artist because he is who he seems to be: a decent human being who is sharing his thoughts and ideas about life and the universe with us in the only way he knows how - through his music.

Not a lot wrong with that.

I mention Into The Light and Diamond Dust purposely because A Place With No Name explores some of the same themes as those tracks. Not only does Rey deliver the vocals on this track he went some way towards straightening out Alderman's English. Mind you, seeing as he is Swedish, there's nowt wrong with that. He can speak better English than I can speak Swedish and that's a fact. Lyrically and emotionally I bonded with this track immediately but despite that I found myself struggling to LIKE the track and the reasons for that are quite complex - and none of them the fault of either Alderman or Rey Varela. Something about the arrangement of the track - and the samples used to create it - doesn't sit right with me and I've spent days trying to pin it down. Both the musical and vocal performance are infinitely credible, but I don't know, it just doesn't sit right. Still, that's really just me being Mr Perfecto again and most people listening to this will nod their heads and think 'aaah yes, Alderman.....I like him....' Well, the singer knows his stuff too, and I think both musicians have nothing whatsoever to be ashamed of...

Recommended, other-worldly chillout.