Frida Hyvönen – Silence is Wild

The female indie players right now include Regina Spektor, Joanna Newsom and the Grammy-nominated Leslie Feist. On her second full-length album, Silence is Wild, Frida Hyvönen gives us a vocally driven album that’s a far cry from any of these. The songs are not nearly as light-hearted as those of Feist, and they lack the whimsy found on a Joanna Newsom record. Serious and lyrically sprawling, Hyvönen gives off more of a ’90s Sinead O’Connor vibe than calling to mind any of her current musical contemporaries.

This is not to say that Frida Hyvönen is going to rip up a picture of the pope and go down in history remembered by controversy rather than musical talent. Hyvönen’s voice is front and center on this record – so much so that it’s easy to forget she’s also a pianist. Many times throughout Silence, it feels the background music is irrelevant as Hyvönen’s voice journeys all over the song. Sometimes this is pleasurable; On Silence is Wild’s opening track, “Dirty Dancing,” her vocals soar over a ’50s high school doo wop dance rhythm. But often the effect of her singing elicits a feeling similar to enjambed poetry, with Hyvönen’s narratives running wild through the lines of her lyrics. This effect continues throughout the album, and eventually becomes too repetitive.

It’s not that Silence is Wild has nothing to offer. Hyvönen engages in a lot of good ol’ storytelling and speaks to lovers that pop music is all about. Her songs are not dressed up. They exist on their merits alone: Hyvönen’s vocal and songwriting talents. These talents are very solidly decent. Her lyrics are straightforward, and while she dabbles in metaphor and personification on songs like “Pony” and “Oh Shanghai,” respectively, at many times, it’s not enough. Hyvönen sings of love, insecurity, abortion, alienation – all interesting, relevant themes. But her commitment issue-laden pleas to her lover on “Science” just become uninteresting. With not much else happening on the album, these confessions can get boring.

Silence does have its moments and, every once in awhile, Hyvönen reigns it in. “London!” has a bit more structure than its preceding tracks. The song isn’t all over the place and features a full backing band. “London!” also gets a little more clever with the lyrics, the repeated, catchy line being “The way you hate me is better than love.” “Scandinavian Blonde” has an upbeat energy that can’t be found elsewhere on the album, and “Birds” has some staccato repetition. The faster rhythms pull Hyvönen’s voice in for tighter, more structured songs that end up being the more noticeable tracks of the album.

Alas, most of Hyvönen’s songs make for an ultimately uninteresting album. There are simply not enough other things going on in these songs to hold our attention. It leaves the listener wondering if maybe Hyvönen does needs a little bit of vocal quirk or lyrical whimsy from her lady songwriter peers.

Tagged as: Scandinavia, Secretly Canadian Records

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