3 / 10
CERTAINLY, THIS WAS SOMETHING no-one ever thought possible. As if covers albums weren't already awful enough, Stockholm's Stina Nordenstam has taken the concept to new turgid depths on her fourth album, mistakenly trading talent and tunes for 'quirky' clever-clever song interpretations that sound like an art-school experiment gone wrong.
From the opening bars of Rod Stewart's 'Sailing' to the welcome end of The Doors' 'People Are Strange', Stina shows no mercy - torturing us with her kooky toddler's whines and piano-by-numbers. Most songs are barely recognisable and none sheds light onto why anyone in the world would think this was worth releasing.
The most irritating aspect of all is that Stina obviously thinks this is the pinnacle of innovation, radically rehashing Prince's 'Purple Rain' and Leonard Cohen's 'Bird On The Wire' into vapid mumbling trance that fumbles for a cool trip-hop haziness but sounds instead like it's just woken up after a particularly heavy night. This is especially disappointing when the creepily wistful pop of 'I Dream Of Jeanie' shows what might have been.
Instead, Stina has prodded the soul of these songs and shone fluorescent light in their eyes. But she's still no closer to knowing how they work.
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