THE CARDIGANS - LONG GONE BEFORE DAYLIGHT

There’s no real way to write this without looking like a total fag. All I know is, three listens and four bonus DVD viewings later, I need $1,632.52. That’s what a one-way ticket to Sweden costs. And that’s where Cardigans\' front-vixen Nina Persson will fall in love with me. She’s the only reason I listened to this album... and watched all 20 minutes worth of their videos. I can’t even explain what it is about her. She’s hot, for sure. But that’s an understatement. It’s more like hypnosis!
The album? It’s okay-- not the sonic sodomy I expected, what with that damn \"Love Me, Love Me\" song getting radio overplay for the last eight years. Long Gone Before Daylight is actually like a slightly more boring Aimee Mann record.
See, Persson’s voice is too big for this band’s musical britches. She alone earns the band that Aimee Mann comparison, but her voice is actually prettier and more exercised than Mann’s. Lyrically, I expected trite pop fluff. Instead, I got some clever wordplays that say \"handicap, schmandicap\" to English being a second language. Sure, there are some hokey lines here and there, but it’s balanced by her creatively outshining her band mates with both words and voice.
Small moments of hope do show up, like the extremely catchy \"For What It’s Worth\" (lucky harmonica), and the beginning of the accordion-kissed \"You’re The Storm\", but that song dies in its cliche-sounding chorus. For the most part, the music dissipates into the endless waters of soft rock banality.
If you’re a fan of The Cardigans, you’ll pick this up anyway. If you aren’t, but can listen to slow, generic soft pop with genuinely awesome vocals, at least give this a patient listen.
In the meantime, I have $1,632.52 to raise. Nina, I’m coming home!