Detective Larsson and the ethereal expanding light of "Magic Show"

 

"there's a ghost in the town, empty hearts gather round..."

Before even pushing play, the curious band name Detective Larsson intrigued me. The divergent dream pop band based in the old mining village of Blaenrhondda in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales (with lead singer Amanda originally from Skövde, Sweden) stir up beautiful rays of sonic light while sounding somehow askew too. Maybe it is the thick textured cello against a clean acoustic guitar and droning synths that feels glacially cold as Amanda sings about ghosts and a magic show that comes to town (or maybe has always been around). Her vocal lilt feels wide eyed and earnest but also somber. The way my mind works if the beauty in a song sounds so grand as to feel ethereal or artistically swelling it teeters on straight beauty and eerily beautiful. As light with dark edges or darkness with a ray of sunshine way off in the distance. I feel that here and in some ways Detective Larsson (at least on "Magic Show") feels like a collision of Nico and The Polyphonic Spree and David Lynch.

I look forward to hearing more. I encourage you to delve into the press notes below and the askew beauty of "Magic Show".

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

https://detectivelarsson.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/DetectiveLarsson/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/14MFfLDmFoTFfmXgNR6PtT


Detective Larsson is a band based in the old mining village Blaenrhondda in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, etching authentic narratives of the secret worlds of the outsider.

This two-track release is follow-up to last year's debut single '21'. Produced in Erskine, Glasgow by Casual Sex and Catholic Action's Chris McRory (Siobhan Wilson / Martha Ffion / Walt Disco), lead track 'Magic Show' is a melancholy ode to a vulnerable performer whose hopes rest in the hands of illusionists, with warmth drawn from memories of the Skåne shoreline and the discotheques of the 1960s. Punctuated by theatrical drums and gongs, the track features swooning cellos and synthesisers, as well as the drunken guitar jangle of the Pen Pych mountain players, here rehabilitated as the bastard brothers of Neutral Milk Hotel.

Second track ‘Castello’ is a slow-jangler themed upon the story of Giulietta Masina’s prostitute in Federico Fellini’s tragedy Nights of Cabiria. The song features the click of sleigh bells alongside cello, synthesiser, rhythm guitars, tambourine and vocals.

Of the members for the release, lead singer Amanda arrived in London from Skövde in Sweden in her early twenties. She sang in and worked bars around Kingston before helping form the band Drömstad in 2017, where her down-to-earth vocals drew comparisons to Hope Sandoval, Neko Case and Dolores O’Riorden. The band released one EP before vanishing in 2018. Neil was brought up in the Rhondda Valley, leaving school at 14 to juggle footballs in Blaenrhondda park. Guitarists Scott Jones and Rhys Lewis were teenage youth footballers for Welsh champions TNS Llansanfriad before discovering alcohol, and cellist Gary is a regular contributor of anti-connoisseur beer reviews to the internet. They cite their influences as far apart as Nico and Neko Case, Patsy Cline and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

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Detective Larsson, "Magic Show", Indie Pop, Dream Pop, post punk, Rhondda Valley, South Wales, Västra Götalands, Sweden, Blaenrhondda, ethereal sounds, eerie beauty,