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Chasing Dreams EP
Whisperin'& Hollerin' | November 2002 | by Tim Peacock
MAGNET - aka EVEN JOHANSEN - was doused in accolades for his recent debut EP, winning a coveted Record of the Week award from the notorious Mark & Lard in the process.
That EP is now apparently rarer than hen's teeth, but if you missed it then cheer up, because "Chasing Dreams" is an excellent second floor to stop and grab the elevator as it ascends.
Apart from a bit of mixing expertise from the influential Steve Osborne in London and a skewhiff, but enjoyable remix (by PSYCHONAUTS) of the track "I'll Come Along", "Chasing Dreams" was entirely pieced together in Even's Bergen, Norway studio and it retains a beguiling charm all its' own.The title song leads off and it's a beaut: all lazy, rolling drums, starkly picked strings, lingering, janglesome guitars and Johansen's coolly lugubrious vocal, making like the very essence of windswept. He'll probably garner the (by now) obligatory Buckley/ Martin comparisons, but second track "Little Miss More Or Less" finds him sounding wonderfully torpid, like he's rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he sings.
Both these tracks are elegant, emotive affairs, but this writer's personal favourite is surely "Home Song", where Even appears to lassoo Ennio Morricone, Calexico and The Handsome Family and drives 'em all into Death Valley to do battle. Beautiful and strange, if there's a more successful hybrid (with bells!) this year, I'd love to hear it.
"Chasing Dreams" is one of those great, fleeting moments that seems to arrive as if from nowhere. Let's hope there's a lot more where this comes from, because as he sings on the title track: "Looks like everything's falling into place."
I'm nodding my head vigorously in agreement. (9/10)
The Guardian (New Singles - Love This! Section) | September 2002
Magnet's Even Johansen doesn't share his name with a popular skincare product (previous review is for pop act Nivea!) - although he does hail from Norway, birthplace of Manchester Utd's Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Um, anyway, another good thing about being from Norway is a predisposition to melancholia, exacerbated by all those long Winter nights staring at silhouettes of elk against the Northern Lights. Johansen writes ace songs which he sings like Thom Yorke trapped in a David Lynch film. Happily, the fact that he's willing to shove three of them on to a single suggests there's plenty more going spare for the imminent album.
Seven Magazine | September 2002
Most artists that get compared to Thom Yorke are, in fact, just poor imitations - however, this is not the case with Norway's Even Johansen, aka Magnet. 'Chasing Dreams' is emotionally charged pop, sweeping over you fueled by Even's bittersweet vocal. 'Little More Or Less' is done in a slightly spaced Beatles sort of way, all floaty harmonies riding on drifting melodies. (5/5)