Search - Christina Rosenvinge :: Frozen Pool

Pop performers often start out making probingly personal music, then regress into feeding the pop machine as the need to sustain a career takes precedent over purely artistic aims. Since her stint as a bona fide pop-star in the Latin-speaking world in the 80s, Christina Rosenvinge has done just the opposite. After numerous hit singles as part of the duo Alex and Christina landed the Madrid-born, Danish-descended singer firmly in the media maelstrom of endless TV and magazine covers, she sought solace in a solo career. Recording a trio of albums for WEA Latin America, each more sophisticated than its predecessor, she explored a wide range of musical motifs and lyrical themes. Sessions for the last of the three, 1996¹s 'Cerrado', took place at Sonic Youth¹s Manhattan studios, with SY guitarist Lee Ranaldo producing. Christina stayed in touch with the Sonic Youth family, and on a 1999 visit to NYC contributed vocals to Two Dollar Guitar¹s 'weak beats and lame-ass rhymes' album. Smitten with the city and the possibility of working with a clean artistic slate, she moved to New York shortly thereafter and began performing locally with Two Dollar Guitar as her backing group. Since then she¹s shared bills with Elliot Smith and Luna, and recorded her US debut and finest work to date: 'Frozen Pool'. Christina is rare in that the astonishing emotional range in her singing equals the subtle sophistication of her songwriting. She has abosorbed the cream of the Continental pop crop, particularly the work of 60s chanteuse Francoise Hardy, and wedded those ideals to a sublimely somnambulent folk-based sound. The aching opener "Hunter¹s Lullaby" sounds like Bjork fronting a less reverbed Mazzy Star, and other highlights include the jousting, Jobim-meets-Johnny Marr chord changes of "Expensive Shoes", the reprise of 'weak beats¹' "White Ape" and "Green Room", the lazy lyricism of "Glue", and a superlative take on Leonard Cohen¹s "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy".