Nina Persson – “Animal Heart”

Nina Persson, will perhaps sadly, always be known as being the lead singer of The Cardigans and ‘that song’ from Romeo & Juliet. This is despite the fact that her former band had a much wider career and she has also been a member of A Camp. She has now gone on to release her first solo album, “Animal Heart”.

The album opens with the title track and the first thing that hits you, is Nina’s fantastic voice. It is clear, crisp and beautiful. The song itself is a laid back, effortlessly cool, adult pop track. It is the first of many songs which share these characteristics. “Clip Your Wings” is another neat little pop gem but has more of a purposeful vocal performance than many of the other tracks.

There are also some soulful, ballads, such as “Burning Bridges” and “Dreaming of Houses”, both of which have a ‘sparse’ feel. The second of these songs adds an almost sixties, carefree, pop feel to the sound. The album reaches a pop peak with “Food For The Beast”, and this is probably the song which will most appeal to the fans of The Cardigans. It still retains the ‘stand offish’ coolness that is apparent throughout this album, but displays more of an attitude and passion. A sense of anger is also present in the delivering of the lyrics on “Catch Me Cryin”, which works really well against the electronic backing.

There are also a couple of tracks which incorporate some different styles. On “Forgot To Tell You”, there is even a kind of R & B feel to it. It actually sounds like it may have taken a sample of a song to create the underlying melody. “The Grand Destruction Game” changes things again, with it’s hints of an Americana/folk feel. It again retains the more electronic sound and in many ways it shouldn’t work, but Nina manages to pull it off.

The album ends with “This Is Metal”, which is a pretty apt description of the actual style of music this is definitely not! Instead, this is a modern, adult pop album which has a totally relaxed and laid back feel. Describing it as ‘Sunday morning music’ sounds like an insult, but it’s not. It would be a perfect accompaniment to a lazy, sunny, morning in Spring.