On its fourth album, this Swedish six-piece succeeds in creating great emotional landscapes of sound. However, unlike bands like Mew or Muse, which tend to overwhelm with grandiosity and complexity, Logh reaches its epic goals through subtler means. Often built around simple piano and/or guitar lines, Logh’s songs soar with atmospherics that seem to lift the listener right out of his or her seat. Driven by Mattias Friberg’s breathy but melodic vocal delivery, the songs on North are often haunting, frequently joyous, and nearly always cathartic. It’s something like listening to the mellower sides of U2 or Coldplay, without the earnest pretension. Case in point is “The Black Box,” perhaps the album’s most striking moment. With its emotional tension and release building to the big piano- and bass-led crescendo climax at song’s end, it superbly exemplifies everything that makes North a thrilling listen.
--Frank Valish [October 18, 2009]
