Henry St. in Bloomington, MN

Seventeen years after Swedish folkie
Kristian Matsson
reinvented himself as
the Tallest Man on Earth
, he's clearly outgrown the plaintive, craggy strum of his early work, and 2023's
Henry St.
finds him exploring some new musical avenues. Working with producer
Nick Sanborn
(who's also a member of
Sylvan Esso
),
sees
Matsson
recording with a full band for the first time, and while he hasn't entirely forsaken his moody and tentative side, on songs like "In Your Garden Still," "Looking for Love," and "Every Little Heart," he sounds positively jaunty, with the drummer laying out energetic shuffle grooves and electric guitars and keyboards adding texture and dynamics to the arrangements. The brighter sound of the music is a good fit for
's vocals; the rough textures of the first releases have given way to a clearer and more youthful sound, as if he's evolved from
Bob Dylan
's lost Swedish sibling to Stockholm's answer to
Steve Forbert
. Even when his songs speak of love that's been mislaid or compromised, he isn't defeated so much as a man cursing the lesson and blessing the knowledge. Much of
was written after
returned to Sweden after a long sojourn in New York City, though one might not guess that to hear it; big-city noise isn't in the DNA of these songs, but they're not pastoral, either, capturing a sense of wonder that comes with watching the sunrise through the window of your first apartment.
seems no less sincere or heartfelt than anything
has recorded in the past, yet here he embraces an unforced joy that connects in a way his more dour work did not, and it makes this one of
's most purely pleasurable releases to date. ~ Mark Deming