PRESSQUOTES
"HOPE ON THE HORIZON"
"Genius" - Smother.net
"Boy Omega’s most satisfying record" - Soundsxp.com
"A real gem" - Penny Black Music.co.uk
Album of the week - Deutschlandradio - Kultur
Album of the week - Titel-Magazin.de
Album of the month - Justmag.net
5 out of 5 - Laut.de
5 out of 5 - Amazon.de
4,5 out of 5 - 17 seconds
4,5 out of 5 - Musikexpress
4 out of 5 - Cutting edge
4 out of 5 - Kieler Nachrichten
9 out of 10 - Soundmag.de
9 out of 10 - Ox-fanzine.de
8,5 out of 10 - Cdstarts.de
7 out of 10 - Sonic Magazine
7 out of 10 - Plattentests.de
"THE GREY RAINBOW"
5 out of
5 in the UK-magazine "Maverick". They write "This really is the album that you have searched for
throughout your whole life". Read the full review here.
8,1
out of 10 in the US-online music site
Firesideometer.com
They write "Unique album... There's not a truly
weak track...".
Read the full review here.
"Album of the week" at Radio Mephisto 97.6 (Germany).
4 out of 5 in UNCUT
9/10 - Crazewire.de
8,5/10 - Burnyourears.de
8/10 - Allschools.net
8/10 - Blueprint-fanzine.de
5/6 - Noize.cc
4/5 - Fomp.de
4/6 - Nordische-musik.de
7/10 - Soundmag.de
7/10 - Bumbanet.de
And here are four reviews in
English...
"It's the next step in the
impressive career of Martin Henrik Gustaffson aka Boy Omega. After this
year's critically acclaimed album "The Black Tango" this EP not only holds
the high standard of the album, 'cause to me it's even better. The music:
Think about Notwist-alike electronica along with dreamy string
arrangements not unlike Sigur Rós or The Album Leaf accompanied by a sad
piano and a voice that will please every Bright Eyes or Arcade Fire fan.
To me these 7 songs were a better introduction to the greatness of
Gustafsson than "The Black Tango". Recommended!"
- The Dance Of Days
[www.thedanceofdays.org]
Boy Omega is more or less a solo project of Martin
Gustafsson from Sweden who on this record is backed up by some friends who
play the few instruments that he doesn't play himself. Together they
produce an intimate pillow of sound woven out of acoustic guitars,
keyboards, violins, computed drum patterns and other gadgets reaching from
glockenspiel to crackle electronics. This is singer/songwriter music in
the most Scandinavian way possible. It sounds like dogma 95 movies look
like: authentic, melancholy and drenched with the bitter beauty of life.
Commuting between big pop gesture and indie earthiness Mr. Gustafsson
draws landscapes of rural urbanity. To me this is just as irresistible as
the music of Björk or Múm or to name something unnordic Architecture in
Helsinki. The first and the last track, "burn the flag" and "a heart is a
heart", are my favourites. Very, very good!
-
Yellow Is The New Pink [www.yellowisthenewpink.com]
The Grey rainbow hits a new level of consistency. This
is emotional folky pop recorded at home and employing programmed
percussion and frequently manipulated vocals. It's mostly all Martin and
his I'm-gonna-kill-myself-you-see-if-I-don't vocal but variously the gang
is still all here. Notably, of course, violinist Karin Wiberg particularly
when From us to eternity and The isle starburst into life and on Control's
stirring string refrain amidst tinkling bells. For the most part it's
achingly melodic, gorgeously pained heartbreak stuff typified by Divebomb
and A heart is a heart.
- Really Rather
[reallyrather.blogspot.com]
Acoustic instruments are blended with digital production
techniques and field recordings, to produce a sound that is as melancholic
as The Cure, but also as vibrant as Arcade Fire. Tracks on "The Grey
Rainbow" veer from the 80's influenced synth pop of "For I Cannot Breathe"
to the bare and stripped down balladry of "A Heart Is A Heart". However,
the stand out track must go to the excellent ,"The Isle". The Arcade Fire
comparison rears its head again here, as marching band drums introduce
this song. Around the halfway mark an infectious violin and piano segment
is unleashed, sending the song spinning in a joyous new direction. It's a
moment of pure inspired genius. "The Grey Rainbow" is a more than decent
effort that should please fans of perfectly executed electronic pop songs.
However, the melodies along with innovative drum programming, the myriad
of instruments used and the field recording techniques, places Boy Omega
well ahead of their peers.
-
Boring Machines [boringmachines.blogspot.com]
"THE BLACK TANGO" 2006
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4 out of 5 in UNCUT:
"Album of the week" - Radio FM4
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"Album of the week" - The Camera As Pen
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"Top 10 album" - Motorhorst.de
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5 out of 5 - Babysue.com
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5 out of 5 - Amazon.de
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5 out of 5 - J. Damen, rateyourmusic.com
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4 out of 5 - Gavin Martin, Uncut
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4 out of 5 - live-magazin.de
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4 out of 6 - JW, Tonspion.de
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8 out of 10 - Andreas, Soundmag.de
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8 out of 10 - blueprint-fanzine.de
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8 out of 10 - Sebastian Gloser, sellfish.de
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7 out of 10 - Jennifer Kelly, neumu.net
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7 out of 10 - Daniel Holder, Bumbanet.de
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7 out of 10 - Nina Heitele, Alternativenation.de
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7 out of 10 - Shawn, Allschools.de
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7 out of 10 - die-bluemchentapete.de
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"A beautiful piece of music... A melancholic pleasure"
- Alexander Eckstein, Bands in Berlin Magazine
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"It tears its listener up. It pulls one out. It is marvelous".
- pittiplatsch3000.de
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"The strengths of this album become more than clear...
burns itself on the non removable disk of the human interior life"
- Daniel Rade, smash-mag.net
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"A very beautiful album, which carries the listener forward
45 minutes long into its own world. And as a stronger human one returns
again". - Rainer Lingmann, Bubblehouse **************************************************************
"A wonderful album" - Sonntag aktuell **************************************************************
"Martin Gustafssons voice is the hook, reminiscent of many,
but uniquely his own.
But his songs are the longevity; each with a keen sense of melody, dark
vulnerability,
and brevity that allows the listener to love and long for more.
In a sea of imposters, Boy Omega is the real deal". - Kevchino
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"A collection of velvety folk-pop songs and hallucinatory
interludes. The blend of electronic and acoustic is (as expected) wonderful,
and a nice contrast to his previous work" - "Jim's pick",
Parasol.com **************************************************************
"Music with inserted goose skin warranty!" - Torsten
Schlimbach, Discover.de **************************************************************
"The Black Tango is a tempered ramshackle record of 21st Century
folk music that understands the value of brief meanders and intermissions
and the importance of simply great songs. Gothenburg, my heart belongs
to you". - tangents.co.uk **************************************************************
"Everything is better in Sweden and Boy omega is a new superhero
to feed this theory". - Spex.de
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"The Black Tango," is so engaging, its about the only
thing I have been listening to.
This album has taken over my consciousness and I fully submit to it's
intoxicating
darkness and pop sensibilities". - J.K - letitbeknown.typepad.com **************************************************************
"Uncanny and affecting... A musical and quiet temptation and
so genuine that one remembers his own days of full hopelesness, and the
hours, in which one wanted to break open into the new, far life thereafter...
so beautiful" - Elisabett.de **************************************************************
"Affecting and moving" - Johannes Mihram, Bloom.de **************************************************************
"Boy omega works absolutely honestly and convincingly...
thematically and in music... Mad album!" - Frankie, frkmagazine.de
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"Marvelous melodies" - Tina Manske, gaesteliste.de **************************************************************
"Sounds beautiful! And works!"- Popfrontal.de
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"The Black Tango" is surely a pointed arrow,
which goes and hurts directly into the heart".
- Wasteofmind.de
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"Melancholy is a term, which is here in music skillfully converted"
- nillson-fanzine.de
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"So beautiful the heart melts" - Mic, roteraupe.de **************************************************************
"I NAME YOU ISOLATION" 2004
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"Why you are sleeping and not hearing this remarkable
album is a sin in itself... Undoubtedly one of the Top Five albums of
the year - and it's not number 4 or 5.
Perfect" - Kaleb, Slightly Confusing To A Stranger, sctas.com **************************************************************
"The emotions pour out of this man unchecked and the
intimacy imparted is absolutely staggering. His voice and those strums
and that subtle accompaniement make for a simply beautiful, sometimes
strident, and always spellbinding debut. Melancholia at it's most tangible"
- Parasol.com
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"Unique and talented songwriter from Sweden in the
vein of Bright Eyes or some later Cure... Not a dud song on it, and this
guy has the cleanest recording technique I've ever heard. I feel like
he's playing these songs on my shoulder" - Thomas Heath, Tract Newsletter **************************************************************
"A handle of remarkable titles... poignant and delicate...
ideal and moving. recommended" - Didier Goudeseune, Derives.net **************************************************************
A very good and pleasant debut" - Andreas Haug, Rockszene.de **************************************************************
"I like the sound of his voice and the simple arrangements
which highlight his pleading vocals (maybe it's emo-acoustic - is that
a genre?!)" - Songs: Illinois **************************************************************
"A very fine folkpop-album. Twelve timeless acoustic
songpearls,
which kidnaps the listener into an intimate sound area shaped by melancholy"
- Hans Korte, elektrolurch.com **************************************************************
5 out of 5 - Musikrecension.se **************************************************************
5 out of 5 - Jdamen, Rateyourmusic.com **************************************************************
4 out of 5 - Joacim Persson, Sundsvalls Tidning **************************************************************
4 out of 5 - Hugo Vogel, Altcountry.nl **************************************************************
4 out of 5 - Koen, Soundslike.be **************************************************************
4 out of 5 - Bengt Ola Mattsson, Länstidningen i Östersund **************************************************************
"Naked and bare but still powerful, and not self-pitiful
as so many others in the same genre" - Jonas Elgemark, Groove **************************************************************
"It gets stuck" - Hanna Widegren, Arbetarbladet **************************************************************
4,7 out of 6 -Markus Wiludda, nordische-musik.de **************************************************************
"Excellent homemade folky pop" -Really Rather **************************************************************
Martin Henrik Gustafsson shows a large potential... and wraps the listener
around the finger with the warm, intimate sounds again and again.
-Simon Bauer, Bubblehouse.de
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"Really beautiful" - Kai, mucke-und-mehr.de **************************************************************
"Top ten albums of 2004" - Cut the chord **************************************************************
"This months record-tip! If you haven't already bought it,
you must do so now. That's an order!" - Martin Alfredsson, Ease Down **************************************************************
"Briliant melodies in the spirit of Elliott Smith"
- Christoffer Byström, Götheborgske Spionen
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