Pitchfork

Herman Düne's clip for "I Wish That I Could See You Soon", a perfect little puff pastry of a song, was one of the best and most criminally under-viewed videos of 2007. Featuring some green-screen shots that were all the more charming for being unfinished, it was the perfect mesh of visuals and music: puppets and moppets running around to a modestly arranged, enormously catchy folk-pop ditty complete with horns, angelic back-up singers, and vocalist David-Ivar Herman Dune's direct exhortations to the listener. Sporting a pink furry hoodie over his full beard, he came across like the greatest camp counselor ever, Raffi for twentysomething hipsters-- except, you know, bearable.

More than bearable, actually. After about a decade together, Herman Dune-- which consists of Franco-Swedish singer David-Ivar Herman Dune and drummer Neman-- have sharpened their craft without becoming overly professional or disingenuous. On the band's new EP, I Wish That I Could See You Soon, they play deceptively simple folk-based compositions with flashes of electric guitars, horns, mouth harp, and bowed saw. Each song has a similar structure: a few short lines followed by the title phrase capping each stanza. A full album of songs with this structure might grow repetitive, but on this five-track EP, it sounds like a songwriterly signature.

If the music sounds upbeat and whimsical, the subject matter very rarely is. David-Ivar writes about the confusions and frustrated yearnings of long-distance relationships, and the fact that the band is based in New York-- thousands of miles from home-- only reinforces the sense of isolation and longing. "Take Him Back to New York City" relates the pains of a bi-coastal relationship, as a transplanted West Coaster pines for an East Coast lover and, consequently, for the city they once shared. "I Wish I Had Someone That I Loved Well", with its Greek chorus of horns, follows an émigré around Coney Island as he tries half-heartedly to assimilate. On the other hand, the downtempo "When the Water Gets Cold (And Freezes on the Lake)" twists the formula slightly, describing lovers separated not only by geography, but by betrayal. "Right now I need to stay home, and I don't need your company," sings David-Ivar. "Right now I need to be alone, and I need you to stay away from me." Distance can be therapeutic.

As a singer, David-Ivar knows his limitations but refuses to work around or disguise them. Instead, he embraces them, devising an idiosyncratic approach to pop songwriting. Emphasizing his slight range (just four or five notes, it seems), he sings in a loose and talky style, becoming increasingly conversational as he addresses the horns, back-up singers, characters, and even you, the listener. "And we all go woo woo," he declares on "Take Him Back to New York City", right before the back-up singers coo the easy-listening bridge. He's not just warning you that the woo woo's are coming up, but also inviting you to sing along. All that's missing is a campfire.