The Theander Expression-Strange Nostalgia

Avenue Of Allies
2013

The Theander Expression isn't so much a full-fledged "band" per say as it is a vehicle for Andrée Theander and his (near-lifetime now) love affair with the electric guitar and, if this album is any indication at all, the smooth sound of  rock and roll. He was only ten, yes ten folks!, when he picked up a guitar for the first and the rest, as they far too often say (and I'm just as guilty of such laziness), is history. On the group's full-length debut album, "Strange Nostalgia", guitarist Andrée Theander was able to rope in fellow Swed Göran Edman (Street Talk, Glory, Y. Malmsteen) as one of the album's two guest vocalists with the other one being newcomer Christian Hedgren. Both men bring their own unique set of skills to the party that is this full-length LP. Meanwhile on bass we've got Linus Abrahamson and the man tickling the ivory here is Michael Ottosson. Well, do you even call them ivory keys even when we're talking about a guy who handles all of the flashy keyboard on "Strange Nostalgia"? It must be the same "term" right? Technically they are probably plastic keys, but that's neither here, there or anywhere and it's just getting me off the main focus that is this skillful rock band. While we're talking about this skillful "band", as I guess in a way it is technically a full-fledged band despite the name (And yes, I am aware that I'm just throwing the word "technically" around like it's some sort of  Frisbee!), let's not forget the drummer position since that's filled by Herman Furin of Work Of Art and Fergie Frederiksen fame. He brings a splendid sense of balance to the back-end of this group and, along with some nice bass playing on the part of Linus, we're talking about a rhythm section that has the skills to pay the bills! With Andrée Theander serving as the album's chief songwriter all the credit for these smooth rock/AOR numbers falls on him.Yes, there is more then enough praise to go around and every one involved here does their own thing in style! But his songwriting and guitar playing are worth praising as this release comes across as the perfect treat for melodic rock and AOR fans. Really there is not much here not to like as the whole package sounds smooth and mellow while having just the right amount of electric guitar to make it rock out! The market for this release seems obvious and really does not need to be spelled out more.