It’s Sunday evening and time to relax with a little Americana from Swedish singer-songwriter Fanny Pack. If I didn’t know any better I’d have assumed it was a new line from IKEA (and it’s also a sort of midriff-worn purse but we won’t go there); however apparently that’s a temporary or holding name for a band headed up by Fanny Holm, who is currently based out of Stockholm but is originally from the cultured city of Umeå up in the far northeast.
This isn’t a new song, it was released back in May but I’ll make an exception to our one month timeline rule because it is one of four songs on an EP that may yet be released digitally.
Americana isn’t what you expect to hear coming out of Sweden but there are in fact plenty of exponents, several of whom have featured in these pages. But Fanny has been on the scene in Sweden for quite some time. I watched a video for a 2012 song of hers called ‘Pretty when you’re naked’, from the album ‘Freaks, Oddities & Wonders’ which has a considerably greater gravitas to it, a title that might have come from Shakespears Sister, and the singer could be Elkie Brooks.
I’m not sure how matters have progressed in the intervening decade but ‘Now’ is much lighter in tone, and more upbeat, musically, but while the lyrics remain tersely in the style you would expect. There are some traditional C&W lines in there, but they are memorable all the same:
“See your life in the rear view mirror/stand back and don’t be bitter/There are no more bridges left to burn.”
Add in a crisp finger-picked guitar bridge and you’ve got a perfect three-minute single to play on a loop all the way in the Mustang from Austin to Nashville.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fannypacksthlmtps://www.facebook.com/fannypacksthlm
