October 5th, 2009 at 2:43 PM
Album review: Björn Kleinhenz – B.U.R.M.A (Gold Robot)
Björn Kleinhenz may hail from Sweden, but Peter, Bjorn and John/Long Blondes-style pop isn’t quite his game. Rather, if we must compare Kleinhenz to his countrymen, let’s go with Jens Lekman and Loney, Dear. Both trade in soft-spoken quirkiness, although Kleinhenz doesn’t go in for big production numbers the way Lekman does. With a few notable exceptions (”Bodilla” comes to mind), the whispery, strummy B.U.R.M.A. seems to owe more to American singer-songwriters like Mark Kozelek and Alex Chilton (at his quieter moments). English may not be Kleinhenz’s first language, but he sure does have a way with words. His images are gorgeous, distant, and fragile. “Dry your feet in the morning,” he sings on “Poets of the Senseless Warnings.” “In your pocket, cash to last till dawn.” One of Kleinhenz’s stranger fixations seems to be stillbirth, which comes up on at least two tracks. And as for Kleinhenz’s seemingly political album title? Well, it doesn’t seem to come up in the songs themselves. B.U.R.M.A. is just another sweet, gorgeous album about love. But, as Built to Spill once eloquently put it, there’s nothing wrong with love.
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February 16th, 2010 at 3:48 AM { # }
I just read in a German magazine that B.U.R.M.A is an acronym for Be Undressed and Ready My Angel – which was used by US soliders in WWII in letters they sent home to their wives and sweethearts. So you have summed up the album quite correctly as “another sweet, gorgeous album about love”.



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