Deep Elm
2003
Safety In Numbers
About This Album
The Vaxjo-based quintet Surrounded -- Sweden's answer to the Flaming Lips -- creates lush, modern rock on its artfully crafted debut album, Safety in Numbers. Launched with "Linear Elevator," a mournful but captivating instrumental stomp, the disc soon drifts into the abundant soundscape of "Exit Serenade." Here, Emil Petersson's synths and Marcus Knutsson's guitar swoon in tandem around Marten Rydell's thought-provoking lyrics about flattering clowns and bigoted clones. While traces of Tom Waits and Built to Spill invade "Diesel Palace," that song's redundancies pale in comparison to melodically superior, entrancing tracks like the lilting "Pro-Files" and the soothingly orchestrated "Blood Orange Wheels." If Rydell's song-poems like "Dear Nimby Waltz" seem to be more about mood than message, one suspects that's Surrounded's point. This is an album that gives a little more away with each listen. And with adventurous songcraft like this, it's doubtful that disciples of Mercury Rev and Sparklehorse will mind dissecting pieces of this triumphant entry. ~ John D. Luerssen, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,7 and 9)

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