Many artists have been successful right from their first attempts. All it takes is a melody, a tune, for a song to find its audience right away. The inexplicable magic of music! Eagle-Eye Cherry is one of them. Who hasn't hummed 'Save Tonight', released in 1997 and featured on 'Desireless' (1998)? It was an interplanetary success. Unfortunately, the singer's next step was to receive less recognition, despite some good pop rock albums. Doubt certainly won over the artist for almost ten years from 2003 until a new start in 2012 ("Can't Get Enough") and then a return to grace with the release of the album "Streets Of You" (2018) concretizing a beautiful international tour.
Riding the wave of these successful concerts, Eagle-Eye Cherry did not want to renew yet another long absence and seems to have gone back to work right away, at the end of 2019. But the pandemic has put a question mark over this desire. It is therefore somewhat forced that the Swede delivers "Back On Track" at the beginning of the year. The title of this new record is symbolic of a period that allowed Eagle-Eye Cherry to look back at the path he had taken since his debut to get back on track.
The album is therefore draped in a form of ambient nostalgia without being plaintive or morose, as Eagle-Eye Cherry gives the whole a bright side. This approach is reminiscent of last year's excellent Tears For Fears album. In this album, the musician modernises his music a little more while not forgetting his favourite instrument, the acoustic guitar, as shown by 'I Like It' with its catchy chorus. He also develops a choral aspect in the vocal harmonies ('Thinking About You' with a country feel). Some could criticize him for rushing into a modern pop that would have lost some of its flavour with tracks that are close to Coldplay ('Teenage Runaway'). However, to say that Eagle-Eye Cherry is in this vein would be to offend him as he was one of the first to give this colour (acoustico-modern) to his pop music.
"Back On Track" is well structured with three more mid-tempo tracks in the middle ('Disponable' a little more serious, 'Catch Me' an irresistible folk ballad and 'Rising Sun' all in restraint). This pause allows for a better start, as if Eagle-Eye Cherry had given themselves a time in the album for introspection. The second half of the album confirms this positivity, which in the end brings a welcome feeling of optimism.
It's a positive return for Eagle-Eye Cherry that we may have lost sight of here. While these new songs may not have the same impact as 'Save Tonigh', they will undoubtedly be well received by all fans of contemporary, sincere and well composed pop such as the Swedish school can offer.