Niels Jensen - "Rum" (1983)

Once in my teens, I heard a song on the radio I liked with the Swedish artist Niels Jensen. Some time later, I found Rum (=Room), in a shop in my hometown of Uppsala for maybe a dollar. The logical conclusion "a good song on the radio probably means a good LP" made me buy it, although of course I didn't know if the song I'd heard was the on the album. Sure, the price certainly also contributed to my purchase. Back home, I realized quickly that my logic was not fully developed. I had difficulties with the album.

The first time I encountered Niels Jensen was in the movie Sova Räv (Sleep Fox) which I saw on TV, during a summer break up in northern Sweden at my grandparents. As I recall, a pretty heavy movie, with absent parents and violent death. It made an impression on me. Otherwise, as an actor, Niels is probably better known in Sweden from the movie G - som i gemenskap (G - as in community, which in English I guess would be C - as in community). He's an artist with many talents, and as I understand it, it's primarily as a visual artist he has mostly created, although his ventures into acting and music perhaps is what most people in Sweden associate him with.

As a 15-year-old Niels got a hit with the song Mobbingbarn (Bullied/Bullying Children), and was just 19 when he made Rum. It's impressive in its own way, I could not as a 19 year-old nor a 40-year-old write music, much less something a record company would release. But the music is not really to my taste, not then nor today. The sound is very dated, it sounds way too much the 80s. No matter how good the songs might have been, the sound ruins the experience. As a teenager, I had also difficulties with Niels' southern accent and his somewhat unpolished singing voice. After as an adult having lived many years in southern Sweden, I am friends with dialect nowadays, but not with the voice.

Also, the album is loaded with anxieties and a neurotic atmosphere, which makes it painful to listen to. The opening lines on the album Mitt namn är Klaustro, jag har fobi, jag söker rum att leva i (My name is Klaustro, I have phobia, I'm looking for room to live in) immediately sets the tone of the record. The album cover and its (according to me) shitty sound enhances the feeling of angst. Now, all songs are not teenage anxiety filled, some you can sing along to and has quite catchy choruses, like Businessman for example. But it's then that 80's sound comes in and still makes it less than good. It's a rather theatrical alum, where Niels sings with passion, a bit like Van der Graaf Generator maybe (although there are many other things that separate them).

On Youtube I could only find videos from a classic Swedish music show from the 80s, Måndagsbörsen, where Niels sings some of the songs live. An interesting historical document, and since I obviously can sing along to most of the songs, I must have listened to the album quite a lot in my youth. I guess hadn't many albums to choose from.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Klaustro Von Fobi 3:28
2. Businessman 3:48
3. Paradis Nu 2:55
4. Iom Mig 3:30
5. Vargkvinna 4:15

Side B
1. Instant-Instant 4:18
2. Riktig Vän 3:45
3. Self-fish Saw-Fish 3:20
4. Julia 4:14
5. Rum 4:33