SAFT REPRIS DOUBLE COMPILATION ALBUM ETERNITY RELEASE: APRIL 2, 2002 REVIEW: APRIL 23, 2002

Swedish synth groups have been throwing in the towel and are releasing posthumous compilations a lot in later years. While it is nice to finally get hold of classic songs on CD, some of these albums are digging up things better off buried. The Swedish EBM scene of the late eighties and early nineties left a rather unpleasant taste in my mouth I really don't want to experience again.
Pop act Saft cannot be blamed for any of that. They had a brief recording career of a few years with just two albums before calling it quits closely after the turn of the millennium. Strange then, to find such a vast amount of hit singles on this retrospective.
Like Page, Saft cared more for killer choruses than image. Consequently, they were always closer to the mainstream than the rest of the synth scene, which was often obsessed with apocalyptic darkness or technology rather than music. Still, cursed with the "synth" tag, they never made it really big, although the requirements (love lyrics, good looking singer and so forth) were filled.
Saft are quick getting to the point - that is the chorus - and waste little time doing anything else. The songs are infectious and positively demand that you sing along. While catchy, they are extremely fleeting things, in through one ear and out through the other without any friction what so ever. Sweet nothings for sunny days.
The first disc contains the single tracks while the second is devoted to videos and earlier demo tracks. They're not bad either, just slightly less perfected.

MATTIAS HUSS