Teitur - Let The Dog Drive Home (2012)

Sometimes one of the worst things to happen is a region-based releases. Sure, with a foreign artist it make a lot more sense since making your music available everywhere involves significant hoop-jumping but it can cause a brilliant album to fall by the wayside. Case in point is Let The Dog Drive Home, the fifth studio album from Faroese singer/songwriter Teitur. Those abroad had the album for almost an entire year before it arrived on US shores at the very beginning of this year which almost made me forget about the album entirely. And what a real shame that would've been.

Since my first listen to Poetry & Airplanes, Teitur has held a special places as probably one of the most underrated songwriters plying their trade. Maybe that has to do with Teitur Nordic residence but there's been plenty of Scandinavians and the like who've been equally talented and properly successful despite not living here. Sondre Lerche for instance. Or even First Aid Kit. No, the reason Teitur isn't more beloved can only be because he hasn't reached more ears. Hopefully Let The Dog Drive Home can change that. It's a sort of return to form for Teitur, reaching levels of charm, emotiveness, and lyrical poignancy that I hadn't really felt since his debut (the aforementioned Poetry & Airplanes). Tracks like "Waverly Place" and "Freight Train" are almost classic Teitur, featuring the sparse instrumentation and emotional stirring tenor present in his most powerful tracks without sounding like rehashing of whatever worked last time. The stories are new as "Freight Train" percolates with barely concealed regrets, "Let the Dog Drive Home" cruises casually by steeped in metaphor, and the wide majority of Let The Dog Drive Home's tracks slipped into crisp pop dressings of an entirely different beast than albums past.

Melancholic but not depressing, On Let The Dog Drive Home, Teitur shares the kind of life lessons it takes considerable ages to learn. Considering Teitur's rather youthful countenance, it'd seem almost disingenuous if the man weren't the picture of sincerity. That and he grounds this rather big life-changing realizations in a relatable manner whether they be in the form of stories of drinking ("All I Remember From Last Night Is You" or even cozy Bacharachian arrangements ("Very Careless People") allowing Teitur's ruminations to feel more like sound friendly advice than professional, sagely opinion.

Get a taste of Teitur's excellent album with the music video for "Freight Train":

Teitur to release new album in the UK

I have no idea how it's managed to escape my mention for so long but: Faroese singer-songwriter Teitur has a new album out. Unfortunately, Teitur's new album Let the Dog Drive Home has yet to receive a release date in the US, but will enjoy a release date in the UK early next month. It'll be Teitur's second studio album release in the UK after 2008's The Singer and last year's compilation album All My Mistakes. So until the day he announces a US release date,thanks to the marvel of the internet you can at least get a small taste of the new album.

Enjoy the video for "Freight Train":

Pitstop: Teitur

Don't know where the Faroe Islands are? Don't worry because about a year and a half ago I didn't either; until I discovered Teitur. Teitur might arguably be one of the greatest songwriters so it's a shame he's not more well known. His debut album Poetry & Airplanes, released in 2003 on Universal, drips with lovelorn weakness and an emotional intensity that few might find themselves ready for. Boasting lyrics like "I think about long distance rates instead of kissing you babe/I'm a singer without a song/If I wait for you longer my affection is stronger/And I was just thinking, merely thinking that this boat is sinking" in "I Was Just Thinking" that are both heartswelling and heartrending and augmented by his quiet peaceful folksy balladic style. He then parted with Universal due to creatives differences, starting his own label Arlo and Betty Records where he released his second album Stay Under the Stars in 2006. He even released an album in his native Faroese before releasing his fourth studio album The Singer in 2008. Despite subtle variations in instrumentation, listeners can still expect to hear the deeply invocative smooth style that doe-eyed Teitur has honed and made his trademark on all of his albums. If stellar songwriting is what you crave then look no further than Teitur.

Teitur recently released a compilation album All My Mistakes in the UK composed of what he considers to be the best tracks off his first two albums that were previously unreleased there, and is currently working on fifth album poised for a September release.

Hear what he sounds like with his song "Louis Louis" off Stay Under the Stars: