Review // "Urban" - September 14th 2004

The Curse of Funen
Saybia are heading for dark and dangerous times with their new album.
But they are well prepared for the journey.

Once upon a time there was a band from a small town on Funen. The boys had played together for many years, when they released their first album – all of a sudden they were a huge hit all over the country. Festivals, radio hits, and gold records were a part of everyday life – right until it was time to follow up on the success with a new album. The band went in the studio with a wish to make something new and different. They did and the reviewers were happy – but the audience didn’t want to follow them on the new roads and after only three records the band spilt up.
This is not the story about Saybia, but another band from Funen, which begun their little rock fairytale fifteen years ago – Fielfraz.
But the same destiny might happen to the five boys from Nyborg, who in 2002 got an remarkable break through with the fresh, pure sound of nine years of playing in the rehearsal rooms by the Great Belt – and who later has had difficulties dealing with the success.
Saybia’s new album does not have any hits as pure as the 2-3 biggest success on the predecessor.
However, this should not intimidate neither Saybia nor their fans, because These Are The Days are overall a better and more integrated album than the predecessor. And even though the material is not overwhelmingly original and the lyrics are sometimes a bit full of clichés as Søren Huss tries to put words on the band crisis, it is obvious that the guys have tried something more since the last time.
The same Huss has gotten more hair on his voice and in general the sound has become a bit more long-bearded.
The passion, which Huss’ great voice needs to be up to, has been given more weight on These Are The Days. This is not at least due to the complex mixing, which Tchad Blake (also Sheryl Crow, Pearl Jam) did. But even though These Are The Days is not as radio friendly as the previous album, the mailman will probably have to have a golden record in his bag in a week.
And Saybia is hopefully on their way to break the curse of Funen.