Madrugada
Hands Up - I Love You
Virgin Records

"So do you like where we're heading?" asks Sivert Høyem in Hands Up - I Love You, the first single to be released from the new album, The Nightly Disease, which was released just a couple of days ago, and which will be reviewed in the next issue of Luna Kafé. In this song I can see him sitting by the kitchen window watching the city waking up to another day of beauty and sadness, trying to pin down words describing one its restless souls. Low-key, a bass-driven song it is, disturbing and comforting at the same time ... walking the city streets, observing, with a wish to feel alive ... detached, with a wish to connect, to somebody, or something. A haunting song.

None of the other three tracks on this EP are included on the new CD. Ready to Carry You is an acoustic ballad, quiet and naked, and perhaps a little anonymous. Run Away With Me has some country twang, but is branded with Madrugada's blue trademark (now fading to black, according to the national newspapers' reviews of The Nightly Disease - I think this an incorrect observation). Ice-9 is a surprise. This time we're strolling down the concrete jungle with a bubbling machine head by our side, armed with a guitar riff that spells "less is more." We're shown a new side of Madrugada here, it has some kind of street rooted glam/punk sound to it. At least it is dramatic enough. Only Norwegian Hammerworks Corp. from their debut album Industrial Silence has hinted in the same direction. Yes, we like the way you're heading.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that Madrugada now uses keyboards, like a Fender Rhodes, both in the studio and live, and they have managed to fit the new instrument right in, and it also adds some welcome colours, although it is used sparsely.

Copyright © 2001 Knut Tore Breivik