Christina Rosenvinge
Continental 62 (Smells Like)
By Erin Wolf
Published: February 9th, 2007 | 4:46pm
The Continental 62 is a flight which connects Newark to New Jersey to Madrid, Spain. It not only provides Christina Rosenvinge with a mode of transportation and an album title, it also serves as inspiration, creating an environment for her latest collection of songs. Unfortunately, like an airplane, it suffers from recycled characteristics.
Rosenvinge’s solo material is decidedly different from her past musical persona, Christina y los Subterraneos, for which she was widely recognized in Spain in the ‘90s. Now, mainly in the United States, Rosenvinge pens pretty and pensive, but slightly edgy pop songs unconsciously leaving a trail where Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier left off. Collaborating with the likes of Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley as well as Charlie Bautista and Spanish experimentalist Suso Saiz, Rosenvinge’s introverted pop is propelled along by small tweakings here and there, which would make for otherwise uninspired songwriting.
Fueled mainly by the appealing quality of her Spanish-tinged English accent, and an ability to write English lyrics beautiful for their simplicity, Rosenvinge’s Continental 62 is a merely comfortable listen, intriguing just enough to keep one eye open at all times. On “A Liar to Love,” one of the highlights of the album, Rosenvinge croons, “You move your hands / As catching a fly / We speed away / True love can only live on lies” while Shelley brushes along, encouraging the rest of the album to follow. But like an overseas flight, Continental 62 leaves the listener with their “listening legs” twitching with its parallel sounds, waiting to shake them out and breathe unrecycled air.
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