| Dungen — Häxan (November 18, 2016) |
Dungen — Häxan (November 18, 2016)
■ Dungen frontman/mastermind Gustav Ejstes has been making music for nearly twenty years. As a teenager in rural Sweden, he became obsessed with hip~hop and sampling. Digging through crates and searching for obscure source material provided him with an informal education in ‘60s pop and psychedelia, and soon he learned to play the bits and pieces he was sampling.
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Styles: Alternative/Indie Rock, Neo~Psychedelia, Original Score, Soundtrack
Album release: November 18th, 2016
Record Label: Mexican Summer, Smalltown Supersound
Duration: 39:23
Tracks:
01 Peri Banu Vid Sjön 3:02
02 Jakten Genom Skogen 4:10
03 Wak~Wak’s Portar 1:36
04 Den Fattige Aladdin 0:31
05 Trollkarlen och Fågeldräkten 4:30
06 Grottan 0:59
07 Häxan 2:49
08 Aladdins Flykt över Havet 1:00
09 Kalifen 4:37
10 Achmed Flyger 4:34
11 Aladdin och Lampan, Del. 1 0:50
12 Aladdin och Lampan, Del. 2 1:13
13 Achmed och Peri Banu 3:10
14 Andarnas Krig 6:22
Personnel:
■ Gustav Ejstes,
■ Reine Fiske,
■ Johan Holmegard,
■ Mattias Gustavsson
Description:
■ In between the release of Dungen’s most recent two albums (2010’s Skit I Allt and 2015’s Allas Sak), the beloved Stockholm quartet was asked to create an original score to Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 touchstone The Adventures of Prince Achmed, understood to be the oldest surviving full~length animated feature film. Inspired by the work and the characters ~ Prince Achmed, Peri Banu, Aladdin, the Sorcerer, and most of all, the Witch ~ the members of Dungen immersed themselves into the groundbreaking visual language of this landmark silent film.
■ Häxan (translation: “The Witch”) is Dungen’s first all~instrumental album. Produced by Mathias Glavå, and recorded, mixed, and edited by hand to tape entirely in the analog domain, Häxan was sequenced away from the linear narrative of the film. ■ This process helped to create a path of its own, fully capturing the rawness and spontaneity present in the sessions, as well as a loose, abstract, and fragmented collage feel, evident in the dense and dissonant free~form rock~outs, haunting ambient passages, and gorgeously cinematic soundscapes present in the work, a record that stands on its own outside of the presence of its primary inspiration.
■ Moody, evocative, stormy, and brimming with life, Häxan provides both a tacit summation of the Dungen journey up to today, and gives the beloved group a chance to stretch out like never before.
AllMusic Review by Tim Sendra; Score: ***½
■ This far into Dungen’s long run of making brilliant psychedelic music that relies as much on the soaring atmosphere they create as it does on their melodically entrancing songs, it’s surprising that they never did any soundtrack work. The release of Häxan changes that. Sometime between the release of 2010’s Skit I Allt and 2015’s Allas Sak, the Swedish quartet was asked to provide a score for the 1926 animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmed. The band and producer Mathias Glavå worked meticulously in analog, doing everything by hand to capture the loose and improvisatory sessions. The resulting music was made both to track with the film and stand on its own as a collage of vibrant sound and shifting emotions. Dungen call on all the musical styles they’ve done in the past, from sweeping guitar rock to jazz that ranges from free to pretty straight~ahead, from late~night psychedelic jams to pastoral meanderings and lots of guitar exploration. Mixed in among the stylistic variants are shimmering organs, melancholy Mellotrons, abstract flutes, drums that range from pounding like thunder to drifting like clouds, and the occasional straight~ahead melody that sounds like it could have been taken from one of their poppier albums. ■ Dungen flow between moods and atmospheres like sonic wizards, conjuring up darkness, light, and everything in between. They prove to be naturals at soundtracks, creating something here that works like they said it would. While no doubt the score would work in perfect tandem with the film, it stands alone as a sterling example of the band’s mastery of psychedelic music.
About:
■ Dungen frontman/mastermind Gustav Ejstes has been making music for nearly twenty years — at first for himself, then eventually and inevitably for all of us. As a teenager in rural Sweden, he became obsessed with hip~hop and sampling. Digging through crates and searching for obscure source material provided him with an informal education in ‘60s pop and psychedelia, and soon he learned to play the bits and pieces he was sampling. He took up guitar and bass, drums and keyboard and even flute, then took to his grandmother’s basement to put it all on tape. When Ejstes recorded his first album, he released it in 2001 under the name Dungen, which means “The Grove” — a nod to his village upbringing or perhaps a deeper reference to American folk songs like “Shady Grove.” While his music has routinely garnered comparisons to acts like Love, Pink Floyd, the Electric Prunes, and Os Mutantes, he has always emphasized a strong sense of songcraft. The music has deep roots in the past, but it blooms in the present. With 2004’s breakout Ta Det Lugnt Dungen garnered an avid fanbase outside of Scandinavia. Only on the road did Dungen blossom into a full band, with a rotation of musicians joining Ejstes onstage and eventually coalescing into a fully democratic band that includes Reine Fiske on guitar, Mattias Gustavsson on bass, and Johan Holmegard on drums. Starting with 2007’s Tio Bitar and 2009’s 4, the band members helped Ejstes realize his own vision while adding flourishes of their own. As a result, Dungen grew into something bigger and more formidable: one of the best and most consistently inventive psych rock bands in the world. At the height of their powers, however, the band took a step back. It’s been five years since the last Dungen album, 2010’s Skit I Allt, which is by far the longest interval between releases for a band that proved especially prolific and inspired during the 2000s. Allas Sak picks up where Dungen’s previous album left off, but somehow it sounds bolder and livelier, feistier yet more focused. The quartet jam with greater purpose and principle on songs like the otherworldly instrumental “Franks Kaktus” and the stately “En Gång Om Året,” while the prismatic “Flickor Och Pojkar” and closer “Sova” reveal subtle nuances in the band’s arrangements. The band brought in “a good friend of ours” named Mattias Glavå to produce the record. In addition to helming records for the Soundtrack of Our Lives, Sambassadeur, and the Amazing, Glavå worked with Dungen on 2005’s Stadsvandringar, which made these sessions a reunion of sorts. “Mattias is a true wizard of analog sound engineering, but he’s more than a technique nerd,” says Ejstes. “He’s the ultimate hand between my vision of a sound and reality.” Glavå suggested the band work out songs before they entered the studio, rather than writing during the sessions. It was a different way of working, but one that Ejstes found invigorating. “He suggested we come to his studio with finished songs, and we did live takes directly to tape — the old~school way. It has truly been a quite different experience from the earlier records.” Allas Sak is about everyday matters: family, friends, the fine texture of life. Common but never mundane, these subjects anchor the music in the here and now, while the music lends a certain grandeur to ordinary moments. ■ “Lyrics are very important to me,” says Ejstes. “These songs are my everyday experiences, my thoughts and stories from the life I live. I hope people can create their own stories around the music and maybe we can make music together, the listener and I.”
Bandcamp: https://dungen.bandcamp.com/album/h-xan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dungen-24880073324/?fref=ts
Website: http://www.dungen-music.com/
Label: http://www.mexicansummer.com/
Label: http://www.smalltownsupersound.com/
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| Dungen — Häxan (November 18, 2016) |
Styles: Alternative/Indie Rock, Neo~Psychedelia, Original Score, Soundtrack
Album release: November 18th, 2016
Record Label: Mexican Summer, Smalltown Supersound
Duration: 39:23
Tracks:
01 Peri Banu Vid Sjön 3:02
02 Jakten Genom Skogen 4:10
03 Wak~Wak’s Portar 1:36
04 Den Fattige Aladdin 0:31
05 Trollkarlen och Fågeldräkten 4:30
06 Grottan 0:59
07 Häxan 2:49
08 Aladdins Flykt över Havet 1:00
09 Kalifen 4:37
10 Achmed Flyger 4:34
11 Aladdin och Lampan, Del. 1 0:50
12 Aladdin och Lampan, Del. 2 1:13
13 Achmed och Peri Banu 3:10
14 Andarnas Krig 6:22
Personnel:
■ Gustav Ejstes,
■ Reine Fiske,
■ Johan Holmegard,
■ Mattias Gustavsson
Description:
■ In between the release of Dungen’s most recent two albums (2010’s Skit I Allt and 2015’s Allas Sak), the beloved Stockholm quartet was asked to create an original score to Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 touchstone The Adventures of Prince Achmed, understood to be the oldest surviving full~length animated feature film. Inspired by the work and the characters ~ Prince Achmed, Peri Banu, Aladdin, the Sorcerer, and most of all, the Witch ~ the members of Dungen immersed themselves into the groundbreaking visual language of this landmark silent film.
■ Häxan (translation: “The Witch”) is Dungen’s first all~instrumental album. Produced by Mathias Glavå, and recorded, mixed, and edited by hand to tape entirely in the analog domain, Häxan was sequenced away from the linear narrative of the film. ■ This process helped to create a path of its own, fully capturing the rawness and spontaneity present in the sessions, as well as a loose, abstract, and fragmented collage feel, evident in the dense and dissonant free~form rock~outs, haunting ambient passages, and gorgeously cinematic soundscapes present in the work, a record that stands on its own outside of the presence of its primary inspiration.
■ Moody, evocative, stormy, and brimming with life, Häxan provides both a tacit summation of the Dungen journey up to today, and gives the beloved group a chance to stretch out like never before.
AllMusic Review by Tim Sendra; Score: ***½
■ This far into Dungen’s long run of making brilliant psychedelic music that relies as much on the soaring atmosphere they create as it does on their melodically entrancing songs, it’s surprising that they never did any soundtrack work. The release of Häxan changes that. Sometime between the release of 2010’s Skit I Allt and 2015’s Allas Sak, the Swedish quartet was asked to provide a score for the 1926 animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmed. The band and producer Mathias Glavå worked meticulously in analog, doing everything by hand to capture the loose and improvisatory sessions. The resulting music was made both to track with the film and stand on its own as a collage of vibrant sound and shifting emotions. Dungen call on all the musical styles they’ve done in the past, from sweeping guitar rock to jazz that ranges from free to pretty straight~ahead, from late~night psychedelic jams to pastoral meanderings and lots of guitar exploration. Mixed in among the stylistic variants are shimmering organs, melancholy Mellotrons, abstract flutes, drums that range from pounding like thunder to drifting like clouds, and the occasional straight~ahead melody that sounds like it could have been taken from one of their poppier albums. ■ Dungen flow between moods and atmospheres like sonic wizards, conjuring up darkness, light, and everything in between. They prove to be naturals at soundtracks, creating something here that works like they said it would. While no doubt the score would work in perfect tandem with the film, it stands alone as a sterling example of the band’s mastery of psychedelic music.
About:
■ Dungen frontman/mastermind Gustav Ejstes has been making music for nearly twenty years — at first for himself, then eventually and inevitably for all of us. As a teenager in rural Sweden, he became obsessed with hip~hop and sampling. Digging through crates and searching for obscure source material provided him with an informal education in ‘60s pop and psychedelia, and soon he learned to play the bits and pieces he was sampling. He took up guitar and bass, drums and keyboard and even flute, then took to his grandmother’s basement to put it all on tape. When Ejstes recorded his first album, he released it in 2001 under the name Dungen, which means “The Grove” — a nod to his village upbringing or perhaps a deeper reference to American folk songs like “Shady Grove.” While his music has routinely garnered comparisons to acts like Love, Pink Floyd, the Electric Prunes, and Os Mutantes, he has always emphasized a strong sense of songcraft. The music has deep roots in the past, but it blooms in the present. With 2004’s breakout Ta Det Lugnt Dungen garnered an avid fanbase outside of Scandinavia. Only on the road did Dungen blossom into a full band, with a rotation of musicians joining Ejstes onstage and eventually coalescing into a fully democratic band that includes Reine Fiske on guitar, Mattias Gustavsson on bass, and Johan Holmegard on drums. Starting with 2007’s Tio Bitar and 2009’s 4, the band members helped Ejstes realize his own vision while adding flourishes of their own. As a result, Dungen grew into something bigger and more formidable: one of the best and most consistently inventive psych rock bands in the world. At the height of their powers, however, the band took a step back. It’s been five years since the last Dungen album, 2010’s Skit I Allt, which is by far the longest interval between releases for a band that proved especially prolific and inspired during the 2000s. Allas Sak picks up where Dungen’s previous album left off, but somehow it sounds bolder and livelier, feistier yet more focused. The quartet jam with greater purpose and principle on songs like the otherworldly instrumental “Franks Kaktus” and the stately “En Gång Om Året,” while the prismatic “Flickor Och Pojkar” and closer “Sova” reveal subtle nuances in the band’s arrangements. The band brought in “a good friend of ours” named Mattias Glavå to produce the record. In addition to helming records for the Soundtrack of Our Lives, Sambassadeur, and the Amazing, Glavå worked with Dungen on 2005’s Stadsvandringar, which made these sessions a reunion of sorts. “Mattias is a true wizard of analog sound engineering, but he’s more than a technique nerd,” says Ejstes. “He’s the ultimate hand between my vision of a sound and reality.” Glavå suggested the band work out songs before they entered the studio, rather than writing during the sessions. It was a different way of working, but one that Ejstes found invigorating. “He suggested we come to his studio with finished songs, and we did live takes directly to tape — the old~school way. It has truly been a quite different experience from the earlier records.” Allas Sak is about everyday matters: family, friends, the fine texture of life. Common but never mundane, these subjects anchor the music in the here and now, while the music lends a certain grandeur to ordinary moments. ■ “Lyrics are very important to me,” says Ejstes. “These songs are my everyday experiences, my thoughts and stories from the life I live. I hope people can create their own stories around the music and maybe we can make music together, the listener and I.”
Bandcamp: https://dungen.bandcamp.com/album/h-xan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dungen-24880073324/?fref=ts
Website: http://www.dungen-music.com/
Label: http://www.mexicansummer.com/
Label: http://www.smalltownsupersound.com/
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