David Lindstrom - Frozen in the Center of its Cold and Slowly Dying Love

David Lindstrom

Frozen in the Center of its Cold and Slowly Dying Love
self-released; 2015

3.9 out of 5 - TOP ALBUM

By Jamie Robash

The dreamy folk-pop singer David Lindstrom hails from the northern region of Minnesota. The images conjured up by this region are those of an often rugged but beautiful landscape, which during certain parts of the year can be very unforgiving. When listening to Lindstrom’s latest solo effort, Frozen in the Center of its Cold and Slowly Dying Love the idea of that the often-unforgiving landscape kept popping into my head. Not so much images of raging rivers, dense forests, wild animals, and cold and very dark nights, but rather metaphors to which these things can be used in the domesticated world. 

As its title Frozen in the Center of its Cold and Slowly Dying Love suggests, this is an album that is steeped in heartbreak of several different kinds, but also an album about loneliness and how one deals with it. Take for example the sprawling six-plus minute “Old Gods of the Mortal Part” on which Lindstrom sings, “I’m not made of stone/ just skin and bone/ strung up to nerves I can’t control/ that move the earth for all I know/ that plant the seeds and make them grow.” 

These self-confessional lyrics are all over Frozen in the Center of its Cold and Slowly Dying Love. On the slow acoustic folk ballad, “Inheritance of a Lesser Evil” Lindstrom digs deep saying, “and the words I’ve spit from my mouth since birth/shape all of the laws that I’ve learned/and the thoughts that they make are shallow and fake/and conceded and devoid of all worth.” These lyrics, or confessions, really sound like a man who has been in pain and isolation for quite some time. 

However the lyrics shouldn’t overshadow the beautiful instrumentation found on Frozen in the Center of its Cold and Slowly Dying Love. Instrumentally the listener is treated to a very diverse array of arrangements of ghostly folk pop tunes. The opener “Eyes, Ears, Mouth, and Nose” is a vast collection of acoustic guitar, layered vocals and soft percussion. “A Nightly Reflection” begins as folk acoustic and then breaks into an experimental jam session of samples and sounds as does “North of Orr, Like Before” and also later on “Communion for the Skeptic Heart.” 

This would present the only problem with Frozen in the Center of its Cold and Slowly Dying Love, that so many of the songs start out with a minimalist folk pop sensibility and then build into a jumble of noise. If one is willing to overlook these minor details however then Frozen in the Center of its Cold and Slowly Dying Love may be just the album you’ve been waiting for. 

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