CD: Lonely Drifter Karen – Poles

Poles is a significant step for Lonely Drifter Karen. For their third album, the pan-European trio have moved their trademark piano-led, torch song-influenced introspection into new territory. The graceful Poles is a pop album of the very highest calibre.

The shimmering harpsichord glissando that opens the album and “Three Colors Red” lays the table for a rhythmic, minor-key song which traces a path from Martha and the Muffins to the yearning pop of Rose Elinor Dougall. The Eighties are in there, so are John Barry and Lykke Li. As the album unfolds, Lonely Drifter Karen reveal a new fondness for French pop of the Sixties, south-east Asian melodies and north African rhythms. Synthesisers, programmed percussion and treated guitar crop up for the first time. Poles is seamless, every seemingly effortless song a perfect, melodic, atmospheric gem. But Tanja Frinta's beautiful, Karen Carpenter-esque voice is the focus.

Lonely Drifter Karen are exotic. Frinta was born in Austria and became Lonely Drifter Karen while performing solo in Sweden. After moving to Barcelona, she brought Spanish keyboard player Marc Meliá Sobrevias and Italian drummer Giorgio Menossi on board. A move to Brussels followed, along with the replacement of Menossi with French guitarist Clément Marion. The musical reinvigoration may be the result of the geographic shift, it may result from the new line-up. Whatever the reason, this is a landmark album. The year is still young, but Poles is one of 2012’s best.

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Watch the video for “Three Colors Red” from Lonely Drifter Karen’s Poles