Tuesday Night Music Blog: It's Teitur Time

Teitur is the name of a man, not a band. So don’t go getting him mixed up with T’pau. Teitur (pronounced “tie-tor”) is from the Faroe Islands. Any idea? I had to look it up. It’s somewhere triangulated between Iceland, Scotland and Norway. Talk about the middle of nowhere. But his music has something. It holds an overcast quality that doesn’t succumb to being bleak or dour. He bears some similarities to Swedish (and labelmate) singer/songwriter Tobias Froberg or Jose Gonzales (another Swede) with his low-key, frequently spare sound – Scandinavian folk-pop, as it were.
Teitur’s new disc, The Singer, didn’t bowl me over. It’s a little bit too quiet and miniature in song, although several songs do blossom with some color: “Stop Wasting My Time” (which name drops Dido and Madonna) and “Legendary Afterparty”, while the title track offers an interesting perspective of a singer’s life.
The reason that this album is worth mentioning is the song “Catherine The Waitress” which stands out like the first flower of spring. It glides along on a wave of “ooh-oohs” and a percolating percussion line (marimba?) that conjures up images of the Cure during their poppy singles prime. An ode to a waitress who the singer admits: “you haven’t noticed me/but you are so good to me.” Teitur also tosses off a couple other winning couplets: “I’m not a resident. I’m not a regular/But if I lived here this would be my favorite bar,” and “Cross my heart and hope to die/I’m not drunk and I’m not high” that turns this tune totally charmer. Something like “When The Night Turns Cold” heated up Froberg’s 2006 Somewhere in the City CD (check that song out too!)