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Quiet & Still
MusicEmissions.com | March 30, 2003 | by Dennis Scanland | 4.5/5
With his first solo album, front man of the critically acclaimed Libido, Even Johansen has put together a collection very “Quiet & Still” tracks. Even “Magnet” Johansen has a voice not unlike that of Richard Ashcroft and talent to spare. On the title track Even could almost pass for Thom Yorke with a wispier voice. What I am getting at is that Even fits right into the current reign of gentle Brit Pop that has been gracing our shores. With tracks such as “Beautiful Day” (not the U2 track) possibly getting airplay in North America once cannot deny that Even will attain at least the status of fellow Brits Coldplay or Travis. One thing worth mentioning here is that Johansen recorded this album entirely on his own including all instruments, engineering and producing. Even is a talented individual that just needs to hit a few radio stations in order to hit the big time.
indieworkshop.com | February 7, 2002 | by Jake Haselman
Even Johansen shocked me. For a man I had never heard of before his album showed up on my doorstep, he writes some of the best singer/songwriter songs I’ve ever heard. I was also shocked to find that this is a solo album in every sense of the word. Not only did Even play every instrument on the record, but he engineered and produced it by himself, which makes for a more intimate album all around. You get to know how each of these songs fleshed out in Johansen mind. There was no producer standing over his shoulder, suggesting this and that. And there wasn’t other band members trying to get their ideas into the song. It’s truly one man’s vision of eleven songs. The music evokes thoughts of Elliot Smith (but polished), Radiohead (The Bends era), and from time to time older U2. Take all of those sounds and mix it with the spacey country styles of bands like Cowboy Junkies. The lyrical content isn’t treading new water, but the words he uses will make you feel like you are hearing heartache for the first time. With opening lines like, “you say he’s like a bullet that aims for your future/ kills the present and fills up your past/ and now you want to heal him/ and make him right” (Bullet to your heart), he’ll make you understand relationships in a different light. Even also covers the classic Thin Lizzy song, Dancing in the Moonlight. That is just one of those songs you can’t get sick of, no matter who is playing it. Any fan of smart singer/songwriters will appreciate the talent and heart put into this album. My only hope is Even does more solo albums.
Synthesis | August 2001 | by Maurice Spencer Teilmann
Quiet & Still is a testament to the pleasure / pain complex — this album is absolutely dreadful, and I love it. Filled with quintessential gloominess and roughly etched beauty, Even Johansen sings with the detached apathy of one who feeds their inspiration with depression. An unexpected minor chord in “Bullet to Your Heart” sends a shock to the system, while his delicate voice trembles to a whisper, only to release into blinding falsetto. The pulsing organ and dreary, lilting vocals in “Beautiful Day,” incant the ghost of The Cure’s Disintegration, while his brilliant cover of Thin Lizzy’s, “Dancing in the Moonlight,” is flawless in its opulence. This, the first solo album from Libido’s frontman, not only features his impressive musicianship and songwriting, but his production and engineering chops as well.
Ink 19 | August 2001 | by Marcel Feldmar
Straight outta Norway comes this moving release from singer songwriter Even Johansen. Touching on vocals that call out with a nod of the throat to Thom Yorke, Evan moves through these eleven songs with a steady style and gracefulness that leaves him standing ahead of most of his North American peers. His accent gives the songs a bit of a British feel, but the music is almost stuck in some American back road. Smoother than the gravel and dust that you might expect to be kicked up, it’s more along a kind of Granddaddy psychedelic indie Western road feel, with a touch of a Travis styled sunset falling along the background. It’s summer evening music, warm and soft, sipping slow drinks and watching the highways go by without you. Lovely sad.
groove.no | May 23, 2001 | by Øyvind Adde | 5/7
Er det noen der ute som husker Libido? Det Bergens-baserte bandet som for noen år siden reiste over til England og casha ut sine 15 minutter av indie-eventyret, for så å gli over i stillheten. Libidos vokalist/gitarist Even Johansen har visstnok oppsøkt roen i overmål ved å bosette seg i en liten rolig skotsk landsby – et lite tettsted så fullt av hverdagslig fulhet at det måtte en antidose med musikalsk skjønnhet til for å balansere følelseslivet – voilà; Quiet & Still.
aversion.com | May 25, 2001 | by Matt Schild
Singer/songwriters are notorious for letting their arrangements slip into the role of strummy-strummy background noise too often, but it’s a pitfall Johansen avoids on this album. Whether it’s a result of his lack of a need to showcase intricate lyrical fare, or a simple respect for the musical branch of the singer/songwriter’s duties, this record’s arrangements are as notable as anything to ever come out of Johansen’s mouth, a rare coup for this style of music.
Delusions of Adequacy | April 9, 2001 | by Matt Fink
In the end, Quiet & Still is a satisfying dose of ethereal angst. The album’s intricacies, an unexpected chord change here or a stray word there, add personality to the depressing totality. Concise and cohesive in its sonic scope, the detached and exhausting intent is ultimately communicated. Johansen writes well, produces even better, and crafts a series of engaging melodies that take up residence on the shadowy recesses of your psyche. While not a light-hearted listen by any means, it’s certainly no chore to work through your problems while listening to Johansen sing about his.
Dagbladet | January 9, 2001 | by Håkon Moslet | 5/6
I skyggen av høyprofilerte bergensartister som Kings Of Convenience og Corvine kom dette oppsiktsvekkende låtsterke albumet ut før jul. Magnet er i realiteten soloprosjektet til Even Johansen, sangeren i det London-baserte bergensbandet Libido, som nøt en viss England-suksess med sitt «Killing Some Dead Time» album for tre år siden. Magnet er et langt mer vellykket prosjekt enn Libido, for det er i dette helt neddempete og fuzz-frie landskapet at Even Johansens sanger kommer til sin rett. Han viser seg som en sann melankoliker, med utpreget sans for såre pophits og lyriske, skyggefulle stemninger. I motsetning til mange andre låtskrivere i post-Radiohead «The Bends»-generasjonen evner Johansen å styre unna påtatt angst og pretensiøs sorgrock. «Quiet & Still» bæres ene og alene av Johansens råsterke låtmateriale, hans fintfølende instrumentering (han spiller alle instrumentene selv) og en stemme som bærer i seg hele stemningsregisterets håp og tungsinn.
allmusic | 2001 | by Stanton Swihart
Quiet & Still has a suspended, luminescent quality, as if it hangs off somewhere by itself, on the horizon, part real and part placid hallucination. The melodies often take a while to unfold fully, and the songs slowly build steam before they release all their pent-up emotions, but once they do, it is like a door being unlocked. There is a glassy quality to songs like “The Recluse,” “Bullet to Your Heart,” and “Nothing Hurts Now” that makes it feel like your heart has been enclosed in a prison of windows, separating you from the world even as it forces you to watch day-to-day existence go on without you. Others (“Easily Undone,” the cover of Phil Lynott’s “Dancing in the Moonlight”) open like broad Western vistas offering to be traveled.
CMJ | 2001 | by Colin Helms
If you’ve heard of Norwegian-born singer/songwriter Even Johansen at all, it’s most likely as the leader of London power-pop group Libido. It’s as a solo artist, however, that he’ll most likely make his mark in the States. A gorgeously understated collection of celestial ballads and soft-footed pop melodies, Quiet & Still draws equally from Britpop sumptuousness and self-absorbed moodiness. With Johansen handling all of the instrumentation as well as the production and engineering, the album’s sonic character – all brushed drums, slinky electric/acoustic strums and vaporish reverb – perfectly complements his hushed, husky tenor and aching self-doubt. When its chorus swoops in, whirring guitar accents and all, the opening mood-setter “The Recluse” takes on the ethereal pomp of The Verve, while the acoustic sunlight of “Where Happiness Lives” casts Johansen’s sweet vocal in shades of introspective Elliott Smith. But when he splits the difference between these two musical personas, as on “There’s An End To This” (lyric highlight: “Here in this half-light/ All my half-lies will pass as the whole truth”), his subdued melodic and vocal strengths work in beautiful tandem. Quiet & Still’s subtle atmospherics are as much a part of the album’s feel as the songs themselves, sure proof that Johansen’s already got one half of the equation sublimely mastered – the rest is just around the corner.
Panorama.no | November 4, 2000 | by Paul A. Nordal | 4/6
Quiet & Still befinner seg i så måte milevis fra Libiodosk britpop, eller bergensk depresjonsrock for den saks skyld, men virker både optimistisk og engasjerende sitt balladepreg tatt i betraktning. Foruten Magnets nydelige tolkning av Thin Lizzy-klassikeren Dancing In The Moonlight, har Even Johansen mer eller mindre gjort alt selv på denne plata. Produsent Yngve Sætre har riktignok satt sitt preg på selve produksjonen, mens Even selv både har skrevet, synger og spiller alle instrumentene på låtene. Alene! Selv om slike “gjør-alt-selv”-produksjoner ofte har en tendens til å framstå som noe en artist gjør mellom to faser av hva han eller hun egentlig holder på med, synes både forarbeid og innlevelse på Quiet & Still som gjennomtenkt og nøye planlagt. Plata er i så måte absolutt å regne som en ordentlig utgivelse, og bør derfor på ingen måte betraktes som et pauseprosjekt fra Libido-sjefen.