7 tracks, 47 minutes

Listen to: “Lord have mercy”
Reviews of “Sheriff”
Release date: April 2001

Deconstructing the music we know as rock, just leaving the essentials - a chord, a phrase, a simple drum figure - and repeating it till something else appears...

Swedish duo Sheriff works with limited material and creates a world of their own. The intimate recordings create a restrained atmosphere where every beat on the guitar strings and strike on the drums is heard and vital to the whole. Their use of repetition suggests a link to minimalist composition, but is totally outside the academic world. Comparisons could be made to Palace Brothers, Gastr del Sol and others working in the field of low-key rock, but Sheriff has a strong integrity of their own.

These seven quiet and skeletal pieces, with the setting of just guitar, drums and sometimes piano and vocals, together provide an insight into these two uncompromising musician’s minds. Drummer Henrik Olsson is one third of Swedish improvising trio Gul 3 (debut album “Soul” on the Crazy Wisdom label) while Magnus Granberg has a background as a sax player. Both of them are living in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Personnel: Magnus Granberg: guitar, piano and vocals; Henrik Olsson: drums and cymbals

Tracks: 1. Untitled #1, 2. Lord have mercy, 3. God bless you everyone, 4. Untitled #2, 5. Untitled #3, 6. Thanks, 7. Untitled #4

---------------------------------------------------------------

“Sheriff is Magnus Granberg (guitar, piano and vocals) and Henrik Olsson (drums and cymbals). With a line up like this one can expect almost anything, but I can tell you I wasn't prepared for this. With sheer soul these two guys present a collection of tracks/songs that are so straightforward and so utterly simple that nothing but the soul counts. And they know how to do this: there is a certain melancholy and also some humour in all of these tracks. The tempo is pretty low and the sound is as straight as can be. In some ways it reminded me of Giant Youth (when was that again?), with such a minimal line up and such results. This is the perfect record for one of those lonely evenings, when one needs a little comforting, without getting sentimental. An excellent pop record.
Roel Meelkop, Vital Weekly

“Göteborgsduon Sheriffs debutalbum går rakt in i mitt musikaliska blodomlopp. Minimalistisk, sparsamt arrangerad musik som byggs upp effektivt och stilfullt med tystnad, upprepningar och små nyanser. Jag misstänker att Magnus Granberg (sång, gitarr, piano) och Henrik Olsson (trummor, även medlem i Gul 3) har lyssnat mycket på musik från Chicago, men de har ett alldeles eget uttryck. Lysande.
Rated 4/5, PM Jönsson, Göteborgs-Posten