STATEMACHINE LESS THAN PERFECT ALBUM SSC, PLAYGROUND RELEASE: APRIL 2, 2002 REVIEW: APRIL 11, 2002

It was a usual greyish Wednesday and Niklas was about to leave for the University and a few hours of tiring one way communication. Before departing, he briefly checked his mailbox and instantly saw something brownish, thicker than your standard envelope. It contained three CD's. You see, Niklas has a thing on the side where he reviews music for a web magazine.
It was with some joy that he saw that one of the CD's was the new EP by Statemachine, a band he had been particularly fond of throughout their entire career. By the time he got home from school that rainy Wednesday, his expectations were almost unreasonably high, having fantasised vividly about the greatness of the new Statemachine material. But he was soon to find out that not that much had happened during the silent time of the Swedish trio. He remembered liking the last release, "Battered and Bruised", but that was quite a while ago now, and he had high hopes for some form of renewal in the Statemachine sound.
The title track of the new EP, "Less Than Perfect", sounded, in Niklas' ears, too much like "Battered and Bruised", and didn't give him the energy rush that he always used to experience while listening to Statemachine. He liked the following tracks better, even after his father pointed out, with a chuckle and a lecture about the good old times, that two of these songs were Rolling Stones covers.
The "Less Than Perfect" EP also held a very nice, calm extra track and Niklas especially liked the title, "Thinking out Loud", of this soothing piece of music. He managed to come to the conclusion that although he was disappointed with some bits of the new Statemachine, he still liked the vocalist's voice. He had followed Mårten Kellerman since his sessions with Cell Division and knew he would always like that voice.
Still, Niklas felt the nagging feeling of irritation and after downing two glasses of orange juice, he went downstairs, where the new Luke Slater album was in the CD player. "Now, this is the stuff", he mumbled to himself and started fantasising again.

NIKLAS FORSBERG