Jonas Lengstrand - Dance With Me

Stream Dance With Me here (Spotify)

Sometimes the most lovely of songs happen to find you when you least expect it but need it most. That is the case with the entirely charming Dance With Me by the entirely charming Jonas Lengstrand. It popped up on my Facebook feed this morning (the millenial equivalent of rifling through the record racks at Andy Cash Records back in the 80s) and I was instantly smitten. It is exactly the type of music I need to lift my gloomy spirits right now - elegant, sophisticated and with a heavy emphasis on timeless lyrics and enduring melody. Now, imagine if George Michael's Careless Whisper and Bosson's One In A Million were people, fell in love and had a baby. That baby would be the shimmering beauty of Dance With Me. It starts with a guitar infused introduction that seems to hint at the electricity between two people; this gives way to a luscious wall of mid-tempo sound where instruments are flawlessly textured against each other - each one knowledgeable about their role in the song and working to complement their musical partners. Jonas has a symbiotic relationship with the score, using it to power his emotive vocals to thrilling new places. As he sings his yearning plea, it becomes increasingly hard to resist as his voice wraps the melodic message around the listener like a hug. It all coalesces exquisitely to provide a radiant three minutes of song that stay with you long after the last note has faded. Just gorgeous.