So much music is packed into Songs for the Asking, the thoroughly enjoyable EP of Simon & Garfunkel covers from Sweden's Vocado. It's more like two EPs: the first three songs are recognizable crowd pleasers performed competently, while the second three songs are deep cuts arranged beautifully and sung wonderfully.

America, as an opener, is a good pick to show Simon & Garfunkel's lasting appeal but doesn't quite catch the musicality. The song is about a couple of wide-eyed kids from New York riding buses across the Midwest. This carefully enunciated cover captures the wide-eyed part but loses a lot of the regional specificity that made the song so powerful. It's followed by Bridge over Troubled Water, sensibly channeling Aretha Franklin, given the Queen of Soul's mastery of that song from the get-go. Rounding out the singalongs, Vocado chose Scarborough Fair / Canticle, which suits their choral style but also doesn't get past it. In all three of these first songs, I felt the group's tuning was not as good as it needed to be, even as I felt their deep love for this music shining through.

Soprano soloist Malin Gavelin soars into track four, Song for the Asking, proving that this recording has a lot more to offer. She sings it beautifully and compellingly and all herself, in contrast to her earlier efforts in the footsteps of Miss Franklin. It's followed by a Swedish translation of Old friends, set to a truly gorgeous choral arrangement that sways from jazz to folk to songbook. American Tune also got the choral treatment, with a full twist: the group sensibly swaps out the third verse for the chorale Paul Simon took his inspiration from. It is a perfect choice. Paul Simon himself has backed away from his original lyrics about coming to the new world on the Mayflower, as shown by his 2022 performance with Rhiannon Giddens. He changed the line to honor those who didn't come on the Mayflower, but rather under a blood-red moon. Rather than choose either version, Vocado honors its old-world heritage with a stanza from J.S. Bach. It's gorgeous, it's unexpected, and its lyrics promise fellowship: "I will stand here by you, do not despise me; I will not leave you, when your heart breaks."

Vocado's decision to commit this project to the songs of Paul Simon was a brave choice: with Simon still actively recording new music, his early work has not yet fully transitioned to canon. But it will and it should. Songs for the Asking is a fitting tribute.

Swedish quintet Vocado celebrates its 21st year together with this six-song tribute to folk icon, Paul Simon. Songs for the Asking is an easy, naturalistic listen with simple recording techniques that harken back to those popular at the time of these songs' original mid-century releases. A combination of close and ambient mics record ensemble takes, capturing the group in its best full-song performances and presents them in a reverberant space. This may make the release uniquely appealing to the purist of pure a cappella fans, and those who want to relive the acoustic concert they just left. Those accustomed to more contemporary recording techniques will feel the tracks as less impactful and less contrasting. Songs for the Asking stays naked, unlayered and deep in the reverb. It's a fine quintet in a pleasant hall.

Malin Gavelin brings an effortless floaty lead to her solo on Bridge over Troubled Water and her duet on Song for the Asking with the equally lovely Amanda Sjöberg. Lukas Gavelin and Ms. Sjöberg both take turns pulling on listeners' heart strings in American Tune. But the spotlight of the recording is fixed on the ensemble.

Group members Anton Leanderson-Andréas and Malin Gavelin arrange five of the six tracks with Joel Nilson adding the last arrangement. For each track, the ensemble sound remains unshakably dominant. "Dmm"s, "doo"s, "ah"s and similar sounds make up the backs; leads, duets, and block chords, the rest. Some lovely harmonic choices add a little flavor. There's no vocal percussion or beatbox; no surprising sounds or textures; no extreme use of range; no arresting tone colors or riffs. The rhythm is established by the frequent "d" consonant and the bass part. The overall effect is simple and stripped down, somewhere between folk and hymnal.

The pitch is natural throughout, sans any audible correction. That's often very good, but there are moments of wander as well. Excellent blend makes such pitch discrepancies much easier to overlook. And given the near-total ubiquity of relentless pitch correction on every moment of every other commercial release, it's another daring and nostalgic choice that many lesser groups would be simply incapable of even attempting.

For fans, and just the right listeners, the group offers an easy, comforting charm. For others, the relentlessly mellow middle occupied by these lovely ensemble voices fails to offer enough contrast to be a truly compelling listen. Every song is a stroll. None crawl, sprint, stagger or climb. Perhaps that's a reflection of folk as a genre, to a degree. But authentic folk offers its own grit and danger; its own dynamic and timbral variety. An infusion of drama, conflict, intensity, and contrast would have been most welcome. In fairness, this is as much about studio choices as musical ones. The bells and whistles of technology can be a distraction and de-humanizing force, but they can also underscore and enhance the very kind of contrasts that might be present in live performance but missing here. Listeners will surely find talented singers who feel passionately and sing well, but while Songs for the Asking remains pleasantly unified, too many opportunities to awe were left at the mixing board.

Songs for the Asking feels like we were invited to a coffee shop performance, with Vocado on stools atop a great rug, and the house manager holding his own with extra reverb and perhaps blue lights. People swaying hypnotically. The espresso machine humming softly. It's a nice evening among friends. Thanks to Sweden's Vocado for even covering American material, as we're often … rather difficult cohabitants on this planet.

For exposed folksy songs without big vocal production through big effects, the arrangements and blend are really everything. Paul Simon was a solo artist. Simon and Garfunkel were a duo. Vocado is a quintet. You better damn well know your chords and think about what you're adding if you're going over this mid-century bridge. Creative choices were made, and the result is largely enjoyable with strong musicianship and some breathtaking moments, though not groundbreaking on the overall interpretations, with pronunciation adding challenges, too.

If there's a star of this performance, it's singer Malin Gavelin, whose leads on Bridge over Troubled Water (which she also arranged) and Song for the Asking are particularly stunning. Gavelin's is a voice as iconic as Paul Simon himself: her tenderness, her strength, her nuance, the way she soars up a line, her clear tone in every part of her range — a voice anyone would rightly envy.

There are plenty of nice moments in the arrangements, too. Nothing huge, but all complementary of the original song's intentions. I worried about this aspect the most before listening, but note the gorgeous turn into a hymn nestled inside Bridge over Troubled Water. Feel the beautiful movement from Songs for the Asking, where Gavelin and counterpart Amanda Sjöberg complement each other wonderfully, sisters in song. Experience that knot-in-your-throat through the ensemble's line shaping and portrayal of the challenging lyrics in American Tune. The charts are working.

What's not as easy to swallow is the harsh vowels and consonants inherent in the Swedish language covering up parts that demand warmth. One's native tongue is your own to cherish and represent, but to listening ears assessing an ensemble sound, we need a hyper focus on group blend. Pronunciation elements begin compromising the album immediately in the opening track, and there are several moments that make the body go rigid later in the release, like "Sail on silvrrr grrrl". I was particularly nervous for Scarborough Fair / Canticle since it's wildly "r"-heavy, and my fears were realized. We don't need Americanized covers or what's the point of a charismatic European interpretations, but we do need each singer shaping the vowels the same way. Lastly for the critiques, I would have given more thought to the song order on this release. While American Tune is a strong closer in content, everyone at the proverbial coffee shop is now too depressed to go home.

I like Vocado, and praise the group's efforts to cover this brand of American music. With a few modifications here and there, Songs for the Asking would have been an even stronger addition to the a cappella catalog.