I’m From Barcelona
Who Killed Harry Houdini?

Campus Correspondent Review By Brock Starnes
Union University

Is friendship more important than music?  Emanuel Lundgren and his band I’m From Barcelona sure tends to think so. In fact, what first began as an recording experiment and a few local shows has been sustained through two full length albums. For Lundgren- the founder, lead singer and primary songwriter- believes it’s been a beautiful thing to travel the world playing music with 27 friends. The idea behind Who Killed Harry Houdini? (Mute) was birthed out of Lundgren’s lifelong interest of its namesake’s career in magic and mysterious death, both explored in a rather interesting fashion.

From Jönköping ,Sweden, the pop influenced work uses an eclectic mix of almost every instrument invented. From saxophones and kazoos, to guitars and accordions, Barcelona brings a fun and unique style/sound to its work. The first single on the album “Paper Planes” begins with what seems to be the whole band singing as a choir. The diverse mix encourages listeners to participate by joining the many members of the choir as a sing-a-long. The high number of band mates naturally reminds one of Polyphonic Spree, but Barcelona is quite different. Lundgren’s writing is superb throughout the album. Although the work is classified as “pop,” the writing certainly stands on skyscrapers compared to most pop tunes.

“Music Killed Me,” the fourth track on the album, is particularly brilliant. In a sense, Lundgren seems to be substituting himself for the character of Houdini in his own death mystery. Whereas magic (might have been) the culprit for Mr. Houdini’s death, music might be the death for Mr. Lundgren. The fifth song on the album “Gunhild,” although short and sweet, is quite thoughtful.  What seems like a basic love song, is found to be quite different, incorporating very out of the ordinary lyrics. French artist Soko joins the band vocally on that track.