Fantazja's "Help Yourself"

Fantazja is a new band from Sweden that made their debut with A Different Drum near the end of 2007. "Help Yourself" is their first full-length CD.

I got this CD for Christmas, but it took me a while to get to it because of how much I enjoyed Michigan's latest album.

I already owned Fantazja's "Sing this Song" single, and liked it okay, so I thought I knew what to expect from the full-length album.

Now that I've heard the CD several times I have to say I'm surprised at the consistently high quality of the music. This is fun, catchy, light synthpop somewhat similar to Echo Image, early Blue October (UK), Cosmicity, etc. And, I think if you are a fan of those modern synthpop groups, you'll really like Fantazja.

Here are the songs:

1. How I Feel-- The album starts off with a fast, fun song. This is exactly how I like my "light synthpop." 4 stars

2. Remedy-- The second track on the CD is slow, but the chorus is gorgeous and sad at the same time. When a music group can keep my attention on the slower songs, that's when I know they're up to something good. 4 stars

3. Kathy-- The tempo picks up a bit for the third track. "Kathy" is a good, solid song. It has a sad mood running through it. 3 stars

4. Tension-- This song, for me, is the first letdown on the disc. The song's okay, but it all seems too disjointed for me to enjoy it much. It features a thumping sound whose beat I didn't find very pleasing. Then the song suddenly ends very abruptly. I always just skip this song now to get back to the good stuff. 1.5 stars

5. Make a Wish-- Love this one. Again there's a bit of sadness in this one, but the synths are fun and interesting, and I love the hook "Quick, quick, make a wish . . ." 4 stars

6. Thoughts are Dust-- Another very disjointed song in my opinion. "Thoughts are Dust" is just not catchy enough for me, and I can't skip it quickly enough. 1.5 stars

7. Instruct me Further-- Here we get the highlight of the album! Catchy, bouncy, well-written; I just love this one. 5 stars

8. Dwell-- I like this one. It has some cool synths going on in the background and some whispered lyrics behind the sung lyrics that creates a cool effect. 3 stars

9. You Ask Nothing of Me-- More fun, light synthpop. Definitely one of the better songs on the album with a great chorus. 4 stars

10. Speechless-- Good song. 3 stars

11. Fist Meets Face-- Based on the title of the track I thought this song would be dumb, but it's quite excellent. 4 stars

12. Sing this Song-- This was the first single from the album, and it's a good choice (although I think four other songs would have been good candidates as well). 4 stars

13. Something Else-- Good song. Watch for the fun hidden track at the end of this song. 3 stars

After such a strong album, Fantazja deserves a strong following. Now I just need to figure out how to pronounce their name.