Throwing Knives

iTunes Review

Eight years since her last studio album Open Doors, this Swedish songwriter and multi-instrumentalist returns with the suitably dark Throwing Knives. A singer who has drawn numerous comparisons to Tom Waits, Björk and other musical iconoclasts, Owman kept many of the demo takes recorded in her home studio for this album to use as the finished product, since she prefers to record music that is dream-like but salted with rough edges. There is an unusual beauty to tunes such as “The Conflict” and “Circles,” where Owman accompanies herself on a variety of instruments, ranging from cello, banjo, and guitar to ukulele, saw, piano and violin, all with a rag-tag set of percussion lurking around or driving the arrangements. This is music based on vibe. There’s a ghostly quality to “The Agreement,” a gentle fragility to “Sinners,” and a lo-fi allure to the bedroom lullaby “Goodnight.” It is music made for the adventurous, who will surely be entranced by the odd beauty of the arrangements throughout.