Secretly Canadian
2008
Silence Is Wild
About This Album
Frida Hyvönen's debut record, Until Death Comes, unveiled a singer with a sweet and powerful voice, as well as a songwriter with a gift for catchy melodies and compelling, off-kilter lyrics. Her second album, Silence Is Wild, changes up a few things but retains everything that made Hyvönen special. The main change is that, while her debut was rather sparse and featured Hyvönen's piano as the main instrument, here she and co-producer Jari Haapalainen chose to surround her voice and piano with a wide range of instruments (horns, strings, drums, synthesizers) and lush arrangements. This decision works wonderfully, as it gives the album a sense of diversity and dynamic tension that was missing on Until Death Comes. That record sounded very good, but by the end came across as a little one-dimensional; this record is full and rich with plenty of variation in tempos and instrumentation. One fear might have been that the increased attention to the sound of the record might have diminished the impact of the lyrics, but instead of burying them, the arrangements bring the words to life. A track like "Pony" might have been a bit too dirge-like with just piano, but the swooping synths and steady beat of the drums keep the song chugging ahead, "Oh Shanghai" could have been a drag without the vocal chorus and swelling organ.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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