Music Reviews

Ta Det Lugnt Kemado Music •••½ Sound ••

Ta Det Lugnt sounds like one of those early 1970s albums by bands bearing names like Can, Guru Guru, Amon Düül, Wigwam, and Tasavallan President. All of them had a psychedelic bent, and Dungen would seem to be heir to their peculiarly European spin on the hippie-jam ethos.

Dungen is essentially multi-instrumentalist Gustav Ejstes, a product of the "Swedish forest" who has made an album that alternates molten fuzzfests with sweet siren calls. Ta Det Lugnt (Take It Easy) was recorded with considerable help from nimble guitarist Reine Fiske plus cameos from fellow Swedes. The rather tinny sound quality - and the fact that everything is sung in Swedish - won't deter you from tripping your brains out to the likes of "Panda" (think Strawberry Alarm Clock) and "Du är För Fin För Mig" (which moves from orchestrated passages to Hendrixian guitar wail). My fave track is "Det du tänker idag är du i morgon," with its pretty tandem of piano and flute.

This American edition has a bonus CD with five more tracks of psych-pop wonderment.