Laakso - Västerbron

"You make me think that I could fly if I tried"

One of the most gut-wrenching rock songs of the past few years, but I'll get to that in a moment. The reason why I'm all into Laakso again is that I (somewhat spontaneously) just booked a trip to the UK for Spring break, which means I'll also have a chance to get back to Sweden. Yes, I'll be in Stockholm in just over two weeks! Because of this, I've been listening lately to the album that soundtracked my life in the UK when I worked there three years ago. I've mentioned Laakso's Mother, Am I Good Looking? a million times before, but never given this song a full post. And boy does it deserve it. Västerbron's a masterpiece of storytelling and tone. The song centers around the titular bridge (a huge arch bridge in Stockholm) and the narrator's feelings when being confronted by it again after a past filled with homelessness and drug abuse. What this track succeeds at more than anything is picking little moments and details that add up to an unrelentingly bleak tone. But it's not a depressing song. There are moments of humor and wit and a sense of having beaten a dark past, even though the emotional scars are totally fresh. To compare it to another "bridge" song, it's every bit as epic as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Under The Bridge. In fact, Laakso's choir of gutter angels at the end of this song is a hell of a lot more believable.

Laakso - Västerbron  by  alienhits

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the essential album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.