Train to Spain

In these times of retro, vintage and nostalgia, Swedish electropop duo Train to Spain has opted for a slightly more modern approach. More rooted in the nineties than anything else, but with palpable links to the eighties. Not only in their upbeat melodic realisation, but in song titles such as “Martin, David and Fletch”. The album “What It’s All About”, like most Swedish synthpop nowadays, is very solid overall, albeit not without weaknesses.

Following a familiar duo construct, Train to Spain features Jonas Rasmusson on machines and Helena Wigeborn by the mic. She sounds great and so does most of the music presented to us, yet there is something smothering their full potential. Many ideas and melodies work very well, but I find myself forgetting most of the tracks as soon as they fade out. Essentially I believe Train to Spain are victims of the current stiff competition in the synthpop field where so many bands consistently produce excellent material. Tracks like “Keep on Running” and “All About” have all the right ingredients, yet somehow don’t blossom fully.

Seeing as “What It’s All About” is a debut album, there is still plenty of hope for this seemingly talented duo. For their second journey they need to refine and cultivate their ideas into sharper, more playful creations. Accomplish that and Train to Spain will make a big synthpop splash next time around.