Dancing Headlights. Sivert Høyem

And so it has come to pass that Sivert Høyem's voice and music are a quarter of a century in my life. Ever since 'Industrial Silence' by his band Madrugada was released in The Netherlands in 2000 (1999 in Norway), I have followed him and here is another solo album, within a year of 'On An Island'.

With his warm, deep voice Høyem is special in the pop world. He has one of the best voices in the business. It has the right level of deepness and resonates in the most pleasant of ways. A voice that excels in dark ballads but, in contrast with many deep-voiced singers, keeps his own in rockers as well. And it shows on Dancing Headlights.

The album opens with a typical Sivert Høyem ballad. Slow, warm and impressive. 'Love Vs. The World', an uptempo more rocking song, rocks the tranquil boat, allows for some pop on the album as well. 'The Great Upsetter' is once again a ballad but also rocks. The album delves deeper and starts to open up and blossom because of it. "Play that record one more time" Høyem sings and it seems like his request will be met. With a song like 'The Great Upsetter' on board it becomes easy to do put Dancing Headlights on repeat. As far as I'm concerned Sivert Høyem has added another pearl to his oeuvre.

At this point in time I do not have any information on the album, so I have to point you to the album itself for that. It will not be long before I have it, so maybe I'll add a P.S. later. What is clear to me, is that Dancing Headlights is a more solid album and more varied, in the way the Madrugada albums were. Something I've often missed on his solo albums. Dancing Headlights is a varied album that touches on different moods that are rather wide apart. From 'Hurdle' to 'Hollow' is quite the musical stretch. From a rock guitar and speed, to strings and meandering. But then listen to that voice in both songs.

In 'Summer Rain' the two approaches are combined. The song goes from small to ever larger. The speed is there from the beginning but it's some time before the band really starts going for it. The song builds up the tensions by adding a little by the verse, until the beast is unleashed and starts running unrestrained. I simply love how this song plays out.

When all is said and done Dancing Headlights rocks more than it is at rest. It may be that Sivert Høyem saved several rock songs that did not fit on his previous album 'On An Island' and kept them for an in between album. In the end, it is only an eight song album, including one live track. If so, I'm not complaining. Dancing Headlights is a more than fine album, that as far as I'm concerned can grow into one of my favourite Sivert Høyem solo albums. I totally like the mix of ballads and rockers, just like I did in the 00s, when I heard him sing first. Dancing Headlights is a fine album and I will have it here very soon.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght