Christian Kjellvander Hold Your Love Still Black Vinyl Edition

Naked but for a soft blanket of reverb, Christian Kjellvander’s tender voice invites us into his latest creation, the swooning ‘Hold Your Love Still’. His first solo album since 2020’s ‘About Love And Loving Again’ finds the Swedish troubadour in a reflective mood, exploring the difficulties of an honest life amid the entanglement of capitalism, and imploring us to nurture that faltering hope for a better tomorrow. Though he’s grappling with existential and environmental tensions, Kjellvander strides from stoicism to optimism, augmenting his trademark minor melancholy with soaring major compositions, each concise, precise and considered – a conscious turn towards song from the freeform expressions of recent collaborations. Rich in natural imagery, understated poetry and an infectious empathy, with meaning imbued in every line, this is the work of an accomplished songwriter at his most vital. For Christian, the love of the album title is a state of energy or a concentration of feelings, an ineffable quality which he sometimes feels is missing in modern society. Dewy opener “Western Hemisphere” affirms that everything we need is already in our grasp; we just need to stay still long enough to see it. A grounded celebration of the power of nature, this is a reminder that the long grass has more beauty than the manicured lawn. Our preoccupation with perfection also informs “Notes From The Drive Between Simat and Alcoi”, a travelogue from South-Eastern Spain inspired by breathtaking valleys, a Cistercian monastery and the comforting distortion of a well used sound system. Recalling a gig in Alcoi, a town famed for its labour movement even as the world’s pickets fall hushed, Kjellvander rejoices in the jagged countryside, weathered stone buildings and buzzing speakers, protesting the straight lines and clean sound of our commercialised existence as the song builds from ballad to anthem.