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Anna Sofi Dahlberg
: mellotron, voice, piano, Farfisa, organ
Nicklas Berg :
voice, guitars, mellotron, Fender Rhodes, Farfisa
Jan Erik Liljeström
: bass, voice
Peter
Nordins : drums, cymbals, vibraphone, mellotron |
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Getting your hands
on a brandnew Anekdoten studio album is like a Christmas feeling
which never stops. In the case of “Gravity” we were rather lucky to
be able to get it during the band’s short tour as the finished
product only reached the band a day before they left ! Talk of
suspense ! What strikes me is that no less than three of the four
musicians play the mellotron but sadly I also notice that Anna Sofi
Dahlberg no longer plays the cello. I thought that the cello was an
integer part of the Anekdoten sound but this proves just how wrong
one can be. The Anekdoten music has always been fysically demanding
what with the extremely low sound of the bass and the many rhythmic
changes. The band opens with ‘Monolith’ which is the kind of song
one would associate with the band’s previous album “From within”.
However on most of the album they will clearly leave their path in
order to explore new territories. And that new direction is mainly
in the hands of our beloved Anna Sofi Dahlberg who this time around
takes on the role as ‘fulltime’ keyboardplayer. She’s not the kind
of virtuoso who will tickle the ivories faster than the speed of
light yet she adds interesting touches and plays a mean bit of
mellotron. Nicklas Berg whom in the liner notes is called ‘Nicklas
Barker’, delivers a very unique guitarsound experimenting with
flanger and reverb which in turn complement the rest of the
arrangement very well. And arrangement is the major difference
between this album and their previous releases. This time around the
band has taken the time to analyze their compositions and add little
bits and pieces to make the endresult more intresting. This kind of
implies that Anekdoten no longer finds it necessary to compose loud
and repetitive compositions all the time. On the contrary as Jan
Erik can approach his bassguitar from a different angle with the
music becoming kind of ambient in places.
With ‘The war is
over’ it’s as if you are rocketed back towards the sixties and it’s
psychedelic heydays. Both Nicklas and Jan Erik don’t have strong
voices but it’s that slight hesitation in their voices which brings
a certain extra dimension to the music. Here Peter Nordin simply
adds some percussion whilst Nicklas performs on acoustic guitar
backed by prominent Mellotron delivering a slight Arabian feel.
‘What should but did not die’ is a very addictive kind of song with
the perfect blend between guitar and keyboards. With a track written
and conceived in London, ‘SW4’ maybe can be seen as the future
direction for the band as this time around also Anna Sofi sings. The
result is no longer prog as we know it but rather the direction of
bands such as Paatos or the Belgian band Hooverphonic. Needless to
say the band has it’s fair share in the production and over the
years they’ve managed to learn their way around the studio fairly
easy. Throughout the band’s career I have often spotted similarities
with new wave band The Sound and here a song like ‘Gravity’ could
well be an outtake of The Sound’s very own “From the lion’s mouth”
album. Especially when the mellotrons are introduced there’s a
slight resemblance with the song ‘Winning’. And for sure this
titletrack is a winner in every respect. And addictive ! Very
addictive !
The
sound of the loud mellotron has just died down and the band
introduces another acoustic composition. ‘The games we play’ almost
sounds like those sentimental Bilitis soundtracks once again
drifting on Nicklas’ uncertain singing. It’s a short piece but ever
so beautiful and fragile ending in a haze of sound. The album closes
with ‘Seljak’ which is the Servian word for farmer. Here guitar and
Farfisa play the same chords together resulting in a powerful sound
backed by Peter Nordin who is equally effective as a Swiss watch.
Vibraphone adds an unexpected flavour in order to yet again deliver
a very interesting track which is not that typical Anekdoten. So it
looks like “Gravity” introduces a newborn Anekdoten, a band who
tries to progress in every possible way without adding unnecessary
guests or instruments. In a way you could say they deliver ‘more
with less’. It’s still Anekdoten mind you but a new Anekdoten with
ear for detail, with a sense for fantastic arrangements and a superb
album as result. A very interesting development and not once did I
miss that cello ! |
