PETER H NILSSON – Little American Dream (2018)
The name PETER H NILSSON may be a new name for the Melodic Rock / AOR circle, but this is about to change after listening to his debut album “Little American Dream”. Despite its title, Nilsson hails from Gothenburg, Sweden, however, half of the musicians recording here are, in fact, from America.
Indeed, the songs in “Little American Dream” are benefited by the lead vocals of Nashville based singer Chris Biano which provides that ‘American feeling’ to the album. Drummer Jason Meekins is also from the US, while bass player Patrik Adiels from Gothenburg like Nilsson.
Guitarist Thomas “Plec” Johansson has been involved as well and did the mastering (he mixed and mastered Dynazty and Opeth albums, among others).
“Little American Dream” is a mixture of lite AOR with Melodic Rock in its most pristine variant. It also bends American and Scandinavian styling.
Driven by a pumping bass line and clean riffs, ‘You Better Run’ starts the album in midtempo mode with an early ’90s feel. The AORish ‘Me And You’ has a great ambiance about it and reminds me of a rockier version of something that Johnny Hates Jazz could have recorded on one of their celebrated albums.
‘Timeless’ adds more atmospheres. It has beautiful melody with loving lyrics, great vocals, a fantastic guitar-solo and an over all impeccable production by mastermind ”Plec”. A stylish comparison to Toto and Michael Learns To Rock is not far fetched.
Title track ‘Little American Dream’ is poppy, with a breezy main melody and indeed dreamin ’80s.
‘Love Is Worth Fighting For’ brings to my mind the type of mid-paced sweet songs from the Canadian factory during the Eighties (think Honeymoon Suite), while Chris airy vocals drives the verses forward and crescendo into the strong chorus reminiscent of Rick Springfield in his prime.
One of my favorites here is ”Rumours”, a song that could had been part of an American movie soundtrack thirty years ago. With its strong Survivor-ish intro, there’s a chorus to die for filled with wonderful vocal harmonies, and later a very good solo. This tune is great from start to finish and a fine example of what this collaboration project is all about.
With class and gusto for clean, polished sounds with an expansive instrumentation, “Little American Dream” is a truly delightful collection of songs blending all Melodic Rock / lite AOR eras, and Euro / American styles as well. It’s quite modern in the production side but at the same time you can clearly hear influences from the past.
Peter H Nilsson is obviously an skilled guitarist in the vein of Steve Lukather, both in playing and sound wise, and together with Chris’ fantastic vocals they form a real dynamic duo that is also matched by their songwriting.
I personally hope that this is the start of something great that will soon have a follow-up.
Highly Recommended
01. You Better Run
02. Me and You
03. Am I Dreaming
04. Timeless
05. Little American Dream
06. Haunted
07. Love Is Worth Fighting For
08. Rumours
09. Magic
Peter H Nilsson – guitars, keyboards
Chris Biano – vocals
Patrik Adiels – bass
Jason Meekins – drums
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