Fact #26564

Sandviken, Sweden, may never be hailed as the new Liverpool, but the town's resident one-man-band Sebastian Arnstrom is, I feel, reason enough to move it up into the Top 100 Music Cities list. Anyone who remains unmoved by the plummy yet delicate acoustic resonances of Sparrow should check to see if their heart has stopped. This is stunningly gorgeous music, perhaps a shade too sensitive and instrospective for those more inclined towards Cradle Of Filth or Marilyn Manson, but for lovers of the tentative, yearning sensitivities of Prefab Sprout or Curt Boettcher's Millennium, this is honeyed heaven. On one level, yes, it all sounds the same, but is it wrong to sound like angels singing in a deep blue sky? I think not.
Johnny Black. (Review first appeared in Hi Fi News, 2012)