All These Things

Album review

After having crossed frosty Norway, Thomas Dybdahl touched down in Los Angeles to bring his music to the masses. At 19 years old, the tenor with a soulful voice was already making a name for himself with his first two EPs, Bird and John Wayne, in the early 2000s. Twenty years later, he found himself in the studio with a selection of talented musicians for All These Things: James Gadson and Brian MacLeod on drums, Dean Parks and David Bearwald on guitar, Dan Lutz on bass and Patrick Warren on keyboard. Larry Klein, the producer, didn’t hesitate to show off his prodigy. Dybdahl is a mysterious character with a delicate quality to his playing, he gives us some melancholic folk music on this album, leaving no stone unturned. With occasional bursts of romantic misty-eyed southern soul, the Norwegian melts everything he touches. From the opening title track, All These Things, Dybdahl plays on eroticism and makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up. His combination of acoustic guitars, languorous steel guitars and lightly brushed snare drums is sure to seduce his listeners. His charm even works on the talented Lera Lynn on the track When I Go, a lyrical dance between two voices around an acoustic theme enhanced by some steel guitar vibrations that lull you into a trance. This song offers a moment of lightness but but it won’t put you to sleep as it is quickly contrasted by the blues rock of Lifeline.With his amazingly elastic sounds Thomas Dybdahl fully utilises his gift as a songwriter and composer on this record. © Clara Bismuth/Qobuz