Nina Persson's A Camp project debuted in 2001 with a convincingly countrified record. It featured production by Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, and songs from Persson that accentuated her bright singing personality and meaningful lyrics. It not only succeeded on its own terms, but also proved a charming antidote to the increasingly poisonous records from Persson's main band, the Cardigans, during the 2000s. Unfortunately, the project languished during the rest of the decade, until another Cardigans break when Persson wrote the songs that form 2009's Colonia. Produced with fellow Swede Niclas Frisk and her husband, Nathan Larson (a film composer and former guitarist for Shudder to Think), Colonia naturally deals with colonialism, that thorny issue that modernity continually thinks is behind it until it rears its ugly head again, usually in a slightly different form. Persson seems to have some issues with the modern world in general, and America particularly, most of which she funnels through the solid relationship songs she's written since the Cardigans debuted in the early '90s. "Here Are Many Wild Animals" reads like an expedition into the deepest heart of Africa until Persson reaches the chorus, with "Ooo -- they're dropping the bomb," and the lines "Come little bastard, come little millionaire/Come, come faster, this is America." On "Chinatown," she yokes the comforting past to the uncertain present, "Read my fortune in my MetroCard" (which would be more effective if Persson didn't recall the Jack Nicholson film when she sings "This is Chinatown"). Her songs and performances are indeed effective, and the production from all three members of A Camp are in the vein of classic pop of the '60s and '70s, with threads connecting everything from the girl groups to art rock. Colonia may share with the Cardigans' late records that polished yet entirely too comfortable sound that reveals few insights, but it deftly presents Persson's uncomfortable vision of a world with little left to hold onto.
A Camp's U.S. debut has been a long time in coming, to put it mildly. The trio, led by Cardigans front woman Nina Persson, released their debut album in 2001, though it never made it to the States. Eight years between records is obviously enough to dissolve any sort of momentum the band may have built (winning four Swedish Grammies), but Persson has earned the right to our attention whenever sh...
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Eight years after the debut album from Cardigans singer Nina Persson's side project, A Camp, comes the follow up. Well, it comes in April. Meanwhile, Here's the first single, "Stronger Than Jesus."The press release:A Camp announce the release of their long awaited sophomore album and US debut Colonia, out April, 28th 2009 on Nettwerk. Originally formed as a Swedish musical duo by The Cardigans ...
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A Camp will embark on their first US Tour in late May in support of their US debut disc, Colonia.Made up of Nina Persson (The Cardiagans), Nathan Larson (Shudder to Think) and Niclas Frisk (Atomic Swing), A Camp has garnered plenty of good pub in Europe and the UK. They also played their first single, "Stronger Than Jesus," at the Swedish Grammys with a live horn section and gospel choir.No off...
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A Camp's U.S. debut has been a long time in coming, to put it mildly. The trio, led by Cardigans front woman Nina Persson, released their debut album in 2001, though it never made it to the States. Eight years between records is obviously enough to dissolve any sort of momentum the band may have built (winning four Swedish Grammies), but Persson has earned the right to our attention whenever sh...
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A Camp, a side project for The Cardigans' Nina Persson, return after eight years with their second album Colonia (Universal, Nettwerk, April 28). The first single is the epic ballad "Love is Stronger Than Jesus" the title and lyrics of which may see the band court controversy in certain parts of the US -- which was probably the whole idea.
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"Love Has Left the Room" - A Camp At once expansive and intimate, "Love Has Left the Room" shimmers with the large yet delicate pop energy of something from the '60s that didn't rock, with Cardigans front woman Nina Persson here playing the part of Lesley Gore, maybe, or even Vicki Carr. We get the orchestral flourishes, the lyrical and melodic melodrama, and the engaging pattern of verse-t...
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 "Colonia")
