Amandine Solace In Sore Hands

Back in the heady days of 2005, no less an authority than Ben Bollig accurately described Amandine's This Is Where Our Hearts Collide as "a mature and accomplished debut that promises, perhaps, future brilliance."

I also enjoyed the wistful, quietly confident Americana of this Swedish quartet's first full length, although the lack of any real variety prevented me from truly taking the record to my heart. It's been gathering dust on my shelf for 18 months now and I must admit I'd pretty much forgotten it existed until Solace in Sore Hands, the band's second LP for Fat Cat, arrived in the mail last week.

Like its predecessor, Solace is a startlingly mature record. The musicianship is outstanding throughout, with banjos, violins, harmonicas and pedal steel all jostling for centre stage at one point or another, and the resulting sound is one that again lies in the Americana realm, with added tinges of folk and rockier moments too.

At times Solace recalls Sufjan Stevens (the stark, banjo-led opener Faintest of Sparks), Will Oldham (vocally on Our Nameless Will and Secrets), and Neil Young (Soldier's Hands), but this is very clearly the work of a band - as opposed to a solo artist with a talented group of hired hands - with a distinct vision, and there are less obvious influences bubbling under the surface such as Swedish folk (see the violins on Shadow of Grief) and contemporary Swedish literature (see the press release).

If there is one problem with Solace, it's the way the record suffers when listened to as a whole, particularly in initial sittings. Pick any one of these eleven songs out at random and you'll be impressed; listen to them consecutively and you'll find your mind invariably wandering off somewhere in the middle. For me, the sequencing is to blame here. The album is lacking an identifiable centrepiece and its most likely candidate - the powerful and immediate Chores of the Heart - is rushed into action as the second track instead. But this is a minor gripe, which those who persist with Solace will eventually overcome.

These talented Swedes are yet to achieve the brilliance that Ben talked of, but the consistently interesting Solace in Sore Hands certainly sees them moving in the right direction.