Here’s an interesting concept. Take four songs by an elegant and sophisticated singer songwriter like Sofia Talvik and had them over to a Swedish metal band – a female fronted melodic metal band called Akribi at that – and let them have their way with them.
It proves something of an audio culture shock too, with “7 Miles Wide” transformed from its original duet to a condensed pastiche of the melodic metal genre. Of course, re-interpretation was the point of this exercise but it did feel more like an attempt to tick all the popularity boxes in one go. However, all was soon forgiven with “The Garden” highlighting both Jessica Åhman’s dramatic vocal stylings and the hewn from solid rhythm section.
Talking of a transformation, “If I Had A Man”, in Akribi’s hands, sounds so much like a cranked up Stevie Nicks song that it is hard to believe that it is actually that it came from the pen of the wistful Ms Talvik. The star turn, however, is “Lower Case Letters”. Always, one of Ms Talvik’s best, and most subtle, songs, here it is turned into a keyboard driven anthem of near epic stature. In fact, it is so big that you could make a rock musical out of it.
Ms Talvik’s songs survive the leap into the pit surprisingly well but perhaps a greater surprise is how Akribi have managed to infuse these songs with power and majesty and, therefore, altered their meaning.
Available from Bandcamp.