Thursday 4 February 2021

Single of the Day

A propos of nothing, I remembered that I've also recently read Val McDermid's modern retelling of Northanger Abbey (called Northanger Abbey). It's fun - especially some of the characterisation and repartee, but feels a bit forced in places - the social conventions really have changed a lot. Shifting the setting from Bath to Edinburgh during the Festival was a really smart move though - lots of comedy material available from teasing the English luvvies who colonise the place and ruin it for the locals for a month. I'm teaching Udolpho and then Northanger Abbey in a few weeks so this was a good palate cleanser. One day I'll do a whole Austenmania module. I've even bought and read all the 'Horrid Novels' Austen mentions in Northanger that were thought to be made up until a copy of one was found in 1905 or something. 


Anyway, today's single is a 'I Can Buy You' by A Camp - the pseudonym used by Nina Persson for her first solo outing away from The Cardigans. I liked The Cardigans for the sweet sound married to sharp lyrics and enjoyed seeing them becoming globally huge for a few years - I've kept buying music by post-Cardigans Swedish indie bands. I saw them just once, on a tour which put them on a bill with The Bluetones (hyped as the very next Big Thing in 1995), Fluffy and Heavy Stereo for £5. Heavy Stereo and Fluffy were terrible - who'd have thought one of the former would end up in Oasis as punishment? Need I add that I own multiple singles by all these bands?


I think this one stands up. She's got a good voice, writes great pop songs, and Mark Linkous was a sensitive producer (Sparklehorse was a fantastic band - more of them later).  




1 comment:

Guy Halsall said...

That does indeed hold up. I liked the Cardigans and bought their first three albums - for much the same reasons as you describe.