Theresa Andersson

Hummingbird, Go!

(Basin Street)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

Theresa Andersson’s Hummingbird, Go! was one of the top underrated treats of 2008 (it came just short of making The Red Alert’s Best of 2008 list).  She very well may be the best of a talented triumvirate of Swedish singer-songwriter-friends that includes Ane Brun and Tobias Fröberg (Fröberg produced Hummingbird, Go! and wrote the track “God’s Highway,” while Brun sings on “Innan Du Går”).  “Swedish singer-songwriter” may conjure up a certain archetype, but Andersson’s music is also informed by her stint as a New Orleans resident (earlier albums have been more closely swayed by the jazz and blues traditions of the South). 

Hummingbird, Go! gets off to an especially exciting start.  “Na Na Na” gained some viral traction thanks to a homemade video featuring a barefoot Andersson playing and looping all of the parts of the songs in her kitchen.  She took the same approach for the jazzed-up “Birds Fly Away” – and while the one-woman band thing can be a little distracting (as you intermittently think “wow, how does she keep all those pedals straight?” instead of “I like this song!”), it’s still a convincing argument for seeing Andersson in concert.  She’s an inventive songwriter with a case of genre restlessness; “Birds Fly Away” show her flirting with the power of an old-fashioned R&B or gospel vocal crescendo, and she’s backed by a falsetto doo-wop choir (dubbed the Kitchenettes) on the utterly charming and slightly naughty “Hi-Low” (“If this bed is a school, then I’ll be your teacher,” she purrs).

Those three tracks-  “Na Na Na,” “Birds Fly Away” and “Hi-Low” – are essentially the album’s openers, although they are separated by interludes (making for five tracks in total).  The adventure settles down a little bit from there; the duet with Brun is wintery and austere, while her duet with Fröberg on his “God’s Highway” is warm and straightforward.  Andersson is affecting on these somber and dramatic tracks, too – like the showy orchestral closer “Minor Changes” – and the variety serves her and Hummingbird well. But listeners looking to make immediate decisions should definitely start with the livelier tracks.