Ta Det Lugnt

Unless you are from Sweden, you will not understand a word of "Ta Det Lugnt." Unless you are adverse to stunning psych rock, your ass will be rocked sideways by Dungen. Hell, I'm not even a huge fan of the stuff myself, but Dungen has pulled something together with this 13 track release that has really grabbed my ears and knocked me back to about the date of my birth (almost 30 years ago now, yikes).

I think that had I heard a release like this when I was still in high school and searching for something, anything different, I would have run the other way. Now that electronic music has been glitched to high-heaven and taken in 100s of directions and rock music has been distilled and re-distilled again, it's nice to hear something that sorta takes it back to the rocking basics and does so in a very, very good way. The opening track of "Panda" very well be an ode to the bear of the same name, but after opening with some rumbling drums and absolutely scorching riffs, I think that most people would throw their rock hands in the air and not even care. Overdriven guitars alternately squeal and space out and the drumming is spot on.

"Festival" opens with strummed acoustic guitars but soon launches into a heavy wall of layered guitars and another punishing rhythm section while "Du E För Fin För Mig" starts out with an aching string quartet before building into one of the most epic sing-along tracks I've heard this entire year. At well over 8 minutes, the track stretches out to a perfect length, lolling off into trippy sections while slowly adding layers and eventually turning into a thunderous rock stomper. Imagine Sigur Ros versus Beta Band versus classic psych rock all sung in Swedish and maybe you're getting somewhere close.

Really, Ta Det Lugnt is done so well that it's not just a disc that's going to only appeal to those with a retro achilles heel. The group touches on symphonic (see the aforementioned description), garage, indie, and even stadium rock in their genre-blending release. In just over 50 minutes, there's only a relative few moments that aren't that engaging, and they're offset with some of the more stunning psychedelic rock I've heard in awhile. Unlike some bands doing somewhat similar things, Dungen has also remembered that it's the hooks that really sell the release. With catchy riffs in just about every track, "Ta Det Lugnt" this is a hugely fun release that might make you do a double take on first listen, but will surely suck you in.

(from almostcool music reviews)

I first read about this album several months ago, and was quite unsuccessful in tracking it down. Needless to say, this built up some high expectations that the actual product certainly could not match. Surprisingly, Dungen's "Ta Det Lugnt" manages to not only match, but exceed my already high expectations.

Simply put, this is the best old-school psychedelia to hit the shelves since the heyday of the Olivia Tremor Control. Nothing on this disc betrays that is was recorded after 1968, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The sound of the album is in a cavernous ball of noise comparable to "The Who Sells Out" or Pink Floyd's "Piper At the Gates of Dawn." on top of this is a whole lot of Nuggets like distortion and compression. The lyrics are entirely in Swedish, but with the extreme echo efeects on a lot of songs, I doubt they'd be too intelligible in English. But this isn't an album you'd put on for the lyrics, but for the amazing swirl of sound. Organs, loud guitars, and compressed drums sound like they're beaming in from high atop Swedish mountain peaks, and songs meander in innovative ways, with choruses and verses expertly blending together and codas seemingly coming in from nowhere. This is a dense album with high replay value.

If you're a fan of stuff like Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, Elephant Six, or the Flaming Lips, grabbing a copy of "Ta Det Lugnt" is necessary and most possibly your duty. Besides, the American pressing comes with a 15 minute bonus CD which serves as the fun, experimental EP-like dessert once you're finished digesting the album.

Check the reviews on the original release if you doubt how brilliantly awesome this album is. Unfortunately missing from this particular item's description: this is a digi-pak re-issue of the 2004 release, now distributed by Hollywood Records with a bonus disc of five previously unreleased songs.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 40 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars