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Beat Magazine (Australia) 040907
http://www.beat.com.au





 [ Thomas Denver Jonsson and the September Sunrise - Hope to Her ]
Kite 

 Having taken a stranglehold on the modern garage rock revival those pesky Swedes are now 
setting their sights on another genre of American music. A genre so American that it is 
actually just spelt ‘American’ with an extra ‘a’. That’s right, Swedes are now turning their 
hand to Americana, otherwise known as “cowboy music” or sometimes just “Uncut magazine 
editors hard on material”. Leading the Scandinavian press-button shirted charge is Thomas 
Denver Jonsson, a man who, if his name was actually JOHN Denver Jonsson, could bill himself 
as “THE Swedish County Music Dude”. 

Playing a style that mixes warm ballads, the fractured vocal style of After The Goldrush era 
Neil Young and early Palace music, Jonsson’s Hope to Her proves an accomplished debut album. 
On the lively opener, First In Line, he throws in a slice of West Coast country-pop while 
Black And Blue (Pale Angel You) sees him employing the Will Oldham vocal technique of 
mumbling the first part of a word then singing the second part in a high quiver; it actually 
sounds better than it should. His duet with Jessica Magnusson on 24 Seven is an exercise in 
sublime country. 

While a lot of this mid-tempo, mournful and plainspoken stuff may sound good as a Jon Sayles 
film soundtrack, it’s often a little lacklustre on the home stereo. Thankfully Jonsson and 
his backing band the September Sunrise are accomplished musicians. Indeed the better moments 
on Hope to Her are the more band orientated songs such as Long Life To Lose and Road Runner 
where there is enough spark and dynamism to carry the songs above ‘alt country’ territory. 

TIM SCOTT