Bedroom Eyes: Vacation Vacancy EP

Bedroom Eyes, the one-man songwriting project of Sweden’s Jonas Jonsson, is pretty much as pop as you can be. His latest is the Valentine Vacancy EP, and it’s available in full as a free download from his website (where you can also download his debut EP as well). Why not, I say? This music is about as confluent as you’ll find, and a sight more interesting than the bland clichés of the John Mayers and the Gusters of the American pop scene. The lead song, “Hand-in-Hand Grenade”, is also being released as a single in the US through Cloudberry Records — an odd move considering above. But if you love the music, why not support the artist for just $5? Anyway, all this goodwill makes it difficult to dislike Jonsson or his music, so it’ s lucky that it’s not half bad. That lead song is expertly crafted pop, Jonsson’s pure, high tenor voice lending a hint of exoticism. “Stethoscope Sounds” is another well-crafted pleasure, all jittery guitar bounce and warm brass. The four songs on Valentine Vacancy pass quickly, and with minimal impact — you’re hard pressed to recall a particular melody after the EP’s run through — but you won’t catch me complaining. For his debut LP, we’ll be expecting more, but for now Bedroom Eyes deserves all the exposure he can get.