Not too many musical groups preface their name with the indefinite article, but A Camp doesn't describe a band so much as the state of mind that led to this album's recording. Promoted as a Nina Persson solo effort in fact, if not in name, the record of the same name is loose and uncluttered, dabbling mainly in various species of country music, from its pop-twang version of Restless Heart's "The Bluest Eyes in Texas," which graced the closing credits of "Boys Don't Cry," to the murky folk of "Silent Night."
As a Cardigan, Persson plays the bottle-blonde object of desire hired by an excitable bunch of metalheads who channel their head-banging energy into hipper-than-thou Europop. Whatever musical talent she possesses is held hostage to her iconic purposes. Her singing on "A Camp" is as unaffectedly cool as it is with her main band, but the music itself is warmer and less indicative of its producer's need to advertise his services.
Tore Johansson's mission was to make his Tambourine Studios in Malmo, Sweden, the center of the pop universe, while Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, who produced "A Camp," wants nothing more than to get home in time for dinner. Recorded mostly in Woodstock, the sound favors simple, reverb-laden guitars, deep, fluid bass (by Shudder to Think's Nathan Larson) and the occasional pedal steel.