Into Theresa Andersson‘s second song, I knew that she would be a tough act to follow, especially once a majority of instruments were cleared from the stage and only three acoustic guitars and three microphones were all that remained for both Tobias Fröberg and Ane Brun.
Fröberg’s set came after Andersson’s and completely changed the atmosphere of the Tin Angel. He was slightly awkward, which I would attribute to the cultural differences and slight language barrier (it was very cool to hear Tobias (Toh-bee-us), Ane (Ahn-ee) and Theresa speak Swedish with each other). Despite some slight awkwardness, Fröberg was quite the joker in between songs.
Fröberg’s set started off a bit shaky, but by his third song, one about his wife that he was playing for the first time, he’d found his voice and pulled off the rest of his set beautifully. He was joined by both Ane Brun and Theresa Andersson during his set, which was not at all surprising as both ladies appear on his new album, Turn Heads. The three played beautifully together as Brun’s strong voice complimented Fröberg’s and Andersson’s violin enriched the sound of his acoustic riffs.
Ane Brun closed out the show with a gorgeous set that wonderfully displayed her sweet nature and her strong and beautiful vocals over simple acoustic riffs. She, too, played many cuts from her latest release, Changing of the Seasons. Brun’s sound was moody female acoustic folk and at certain points, her voice reminded me of Regina Spektor‘s, but other times retained a sweetness akin to that of Mirah or Nicole Reynolds.
A lot of the set was lost to tuning, but a cover of Emmylou Harris’ “All My Tears” and a song about Gillian Welch, aptly titled “Gillian”, more than made up for the time spent in near silence. Brun also performed a lovely ballad titled “Lullaby For Grown-Ups” that she’d written for a sick friend. Despite its loveliness, there was little comfort in the lyrics, “Remember, there are a million ways to die.” Towards the middle of the set, songs more or less ran together and sounded the same, though were quite beautiful. Fröberg and Andersson joined Brun to end the set on a happy note with an uplifting song that brought the audience out of its lull.
Tobias Fröberg: website | myspace | interview with
Ane Brun: website | myspace
