Grit

by Madrugada

Overview

Madrugada's third album in four years, Grit, starts off with a considerable swagger on two grimy rock numbers: "Blood Shot Adult Commitment" and lead-off single "Ready." Sure, Madrugada's previous album, the dark The Nightly Disease, had its rockier moments, but nothing as in-your-face as this opening pair. On these two songs, and on the notably weaker Kurt Vonnegut-influenced "Come Back Billy Pilgrim," you can clearly hear a Stooges influence. "Try" is another rocker, more in the vein of Let It Bleed-era Rolling Stones. It works pretty well, but at the same time seems a bit pointless -- swinging rock & roll clearly isn't Madrugada's greatest strength. Characteristically, the biggest hit Grit spawned was the softly crooned ballad "Majesty," where minor key acoustic guitars and strings dominate the sound. The rest of the album pretty much consists of the more traditional Americana-tinged minor key ballads and the poetry-recital-with-musical-backing-styled numbers that Madrugada always had done, monotonous backing grooves highlighting vocalist Sivert Hoyem's lyrics, like the eponymous "Madrugada." Several of their greatest songs are of this variety, but on this album Sivert Hoyem occasionally goes a bit over the top, and it ends up a bit affected, especially on "Got You," with its dark tales of urban decadence. All in all, this is the most varied of their studio albums thus far, but also, regretfully, their weakest. Though not at all bad, it just seems a bit unfocused, and, with a few notable exceptions, such as the aforementioned rock-swaggerers and "Majesty," it lacks the memorable songs and performances Madrugada had delivered on their previous studio recordings. ~ Anders Kaasen

Product Details

Release Date:	04/05/2019
Label:	Music On Cd
UPC:	8718627228494
Rank:	108226

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Madrugada   Primary Artist
Neil McNasty   Loops,Piano
Robert Buras   Bass,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Harmonica
Thorsten Mueller   Drums
Frode Jacobsen   Bass,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Tambourine
Eivind Schou   Violin
Tracee Meyn   Vocals
Simen Vangen   Drums,Percussion
Gabriel   Vocals,Voices
Rob Ellis   Drums,Organ,Strings,Percussion
Sivert Hoyem   Piano,Guitar,Vocals
Ben Lauber   Synthesizer

Technical Credits

John Dent   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Madrugada   Artwork,Arranger,Producer,Cover Design
Greg Calbi   Mastering
Rudyard Lee Cullers   Assistant
Robert Buras   Composer
Frode Jacobsen   Composer,Musician,Producer
Mr. Head   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Recording
John Agnello   Mixing,Producer
Rob Ellis   String Arrangements
Jasper James   Cover Photo
Chris Mazer   Assistant
Torsten Otto   Assistant,Personal Assistant,Engineer
Kai Anderson   Producer
Ben Lauber   Effects
Sivert Hoyem   Composer,Lyricist,Producer,Treatments
Cato Salsa   Engineer