Mørkets skjønnhet

This record review (27 September 2011) on the music page of Østlendingen covers the album by Jackie Leven and Michael Cosgrave and shares its page with reviews of Jonas Alaska, Melissa Horn and others. It opens with a question: “Can anyone give a shopping trolley abandoned in the tide textual meaning? Yes, Jackie Leven.” The 61-year-old Scot had a past in Doll By Doll in the seventies before going solo; a subheading, “Rå gatevold” (“Raw street violence”), points to the attack that, according to the text, made him inactive for some years before he started up again “unstoppably”. He now has an estimated 25 albums behind him.

His narrating, distinctive voice is one main element, his lyrical texts the other. He often moves along the dark paths of existence and does not shy from topics others would avoid: hallucinations during swine fever, say, or his own wish for a grave in Frankfurt. He honours his dead brother as well as the music legend Townes Van Zandt, and ends in noisy traffic backstage in Vienna. The headline “Mørkets skjønnhet” (“The beauty of darkness”) and the tone point to a clearly positive verdict; author and rating symbol are illegible.