I am trying to imagine what it would be like to write songs in a foreign language. Must be difficult. So how do you judge a Swedish band that writes in English? Of course, Swedish bands are now a dime-a-dozen in the English-speaking modern rock scene, so it’s not much of a big deal anymore. Take the title of the new album by Mando Diao - Ode to Ochrasy - “Ochrasy” being a word coined to describe “that hallucinatory world you enter around four to five in the morning… a sort of utopian world where anything can happen, where everything is allowed.” Whatever. Apparently, Ode to Ochrasy is an album about being on the road, but with Mando Diao’s limited grasp of the English language, the lyrics do not bear out this conceit at all and are so poor that it’s a waste of time to quote them in this review. Musically, Mando Diao - like many Swedish bands - is in thrall to their British counterparts and one will pick up on the various Britpop reference points through the decades in their work. From the Kinks to Blur to Keane, it’s not too difficult to join the dots. Whilst the songs are able to stand on their own, by and large, the band lacks a strong enough sense of originality to distinguish Mando Diao from the multitudes of Britpop wannabes out there in the faceless modern rock world.
~ Kevin Mathews
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