Solo, soul-baring debut albums from frontmen usually tend toward the melodramatic, bigger on ego than on quality. Even Johansen escapes this trap, emerging with a sharply-written portrait of "beauty in decay". Quiet & Still proves that Johansen, the Norwegian vocalist for six-year-old London-based band Libido, is a consumate craftsman and a versatile musician; besides writing all but one of the songs, he played all of the instruments, engineered and produced the album. Although such a feat isn't so uncommon these days given the (relatively) low cost of today's recording technology, the first thing you might notice about Quiet & Still is how good it sounds. Despite its title, there's an undeniable urge to turn the music up, loud. The clean, rich production emphasizes the melancholy beauty of the music and lyrics. Johansen successfully stakes his tent somewhere between Elliot Smith and Thom Yorke as the album moves from strength to strength.

As the title indicates, most of these songs lean toward the introspective, but Johansen avoids self-pity through a poetic use of words and an ability to turn the "I" of his lyrics into an Everyman, articulating life's painful silences for all of us. Acoustic and electric guitar, drums and bass, harmonica, lap steel and other instrumental flourishes fill out a sound that pulls gentle strands from pop, country, folk and rock. "The Recluse" opens the album with a hint of humor in its hymn to solitary existence ("I loose like shit and I win even worse/Well I act too precious for my own good"), while "Home Song" ends the disc with a conflicted jab at the pleasures of homesickness ("Just like any other small town, it's always full of small talk/So rumours grow to tumors before they've learned to walk"). In between, Johansen covers romantic bleakness ("Bullet to Your Heart"), suicide ("Private Jinx") and even cautious optimism ("Beautiful Day").

Quiet & Still displays an unabashed professionalism, far removed from the gratingly underproduced work of many four-track bedroom auteurs. Johansen's skill in writing, playing and recording leads directly to an album filled with fully-formed, satisfying songs. Memorable lines abound, such as the admission that "Here in this half-light, all my half-lies/Will pass as the whole truth" from "There's An End to This", or "Easily Undone"'s cryptic "She eyes me up with raven eyes/And steals a precious smile." Considering its literate, melodic melancholy, Quiet & Still makes a big noise.