Weeping Willows – Broken Promise Land (1997)

There have always been lots of good Swedish bands. They've been able to produce some of the most successful bands in the world and it's one of the most successful countries in music business overall, let alone per capita. But Sweden isn't just good at coming up with international successes. Sweden also has a very diverse and interesting indie music scene. Back in the early 2000's, one of the most interesting Swedish bands was Weeping Willows, who was making very ambitious indie rock with well-produced instrumentation. Broken Promise Land was their debut album and already this album has really impressive string arrangements, production and songwriting quality. The songs have some country and folk elements and Nordic melancholy. Music on this album sounds a bit outdated now, but I can still hear the ambition in all of the songs.



The lead-singer has sometimes been titled the Morrissey of Sweden, because of similar tones in his voice. The turn of the century seemed to be a game-changing time in Nordic pop music. That was the time when great English-language bands with ambitious material started appearing all around the Nordic countries. Weeping Willows, I think, had some minor success outside of Nordic countries, but like so many others, it didn't manage to fully conquer the UK or US with their music. It's interesting how bands such as this one are known throughout the Nordics, but almost no-one has heard of them anywhere else. It reveals that there is a Nordic scene in music as well as the national music scenes for all the individual Nordic countries.

The album starts with relaxed and ambitious string arrangements that grow into a airy ballad So It's Over. I think you might compare this song to bands such as The Lightning Seeds and The Divine Comedy. Under Suspicion has some Americana country influences but the melody is filled with Nordic melancholia, as are the lyrics by the way. I Didn't Know draws influences from 1970's mainstream soul, which seems kind of strange for a band like this, but it works nicely. I've always really loved bittersweet melancholy, which is probably why Blue and Alone is one of my favourite tracks on this album. The very sad melody and lyrics along with amazing string arrangements really made an impression to me as a young adult. I'm Failing In Love starts like a Bond theme song, but the song itself is much lighter. Despite the name, you could really call this a love song. Your Eyes is a quiet folk song played just with an acoustic guitar and some steel guitars on top of it. The title track really uses amazing classical instrumentations well in pop music. I could compare some parts in the song to Moody Blues. Echoes of Your Breath shows the heavier side of the band with some experimental electric guitars that buzz menacingly at the beginning of another melodramatic ballad. Eternal Flames is a clear hit song. The upbeat melodies and orchestrated instrumentations sound really ambitious and the chorus is as catchy as can be. The last song of the album, Try It Once Again, is a great country ballad which has just enough melancholy and hope to leave the album in anticipation of some more.

I've seen Weeping Willows live at least once, but the show must've not made that big an impression on me, as I can't really remember that much of it. Anyhow, I used to listen to the albums of Weeping Willows quite a lot around mid-00's. Now that I come back to these albums, I'm overcome by nostalgia, but I don't think I would really pick up this as a new band anymore as it sounds so tied to the time when it was released. It's still a great example of how good music there is hidden in Sweden.

Listen to the album on Spotify.