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Bland Bladen

I Grevens Tid

Review by Gary Hill

Sharing personnel with Øresund Space Collective, this disc also shares some musical ground with that outfit. The disc has four songs that seem to merge space rock with jam band music and other elements. I hear a lot of early Pink Floyd in this, but also a lot of the Doors and Hawkwind. It’s a cool instrumental CD and an intriguing sonic landscape.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2008  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
I Grevens Tid
It really says a lot about this CD that this track, weighing in at over twelve minutes, isn’t even one of the two longest numbers (on a four track album).  It starts off with an almost funky texture and this is worked out into a prog jam for a time. Then they shift it towards more fusion oriented music as they carry it forward. It grows out into something akin to the more proggy output of The Doors. A transitionary section gives way to a soaring fusion-like guitar solo. Spacey, Hawkwind like keyboards come over the top and then they take the whole thing in a new fusion direction. Keyboards solo over the top of this arrangement as they continue onward. At around the half way mark they drop it way down, both in tempo and intensity. The cut takes on a rather psychedelic texture as they begin to build it slowly upward. Keyboards create the majority of the melodic textures here. As they approach the nine minute mark the track is turned towards lush space rock, but still stays fairly mellow. We get some Doors-like guitar in the backdrop further down the road. They eventually grind this section out to the conclusion.
På Grön Kvist
At a little over six minutes, this is the shortest track on show here. That again says a lot. This starts off rather like the first one, but quickly works through a psychedelic journey and drops to almost early Pink Floyd like sounds for a time. As they take us forward from there it’s into more psychedelic zones. Guitar joins after a while and the song begins to rise upward from there. That instrument really drives this one as they continue to build on this theme. Eventually we get a move out to more melodic sounds, though. This resembles the Grateful Dead a bit as it carries on and finally ends.
I Afton Trans
 Weird sound effects and a general space rock air starts this off in dramatic and rather unsettling ways. As the group build upon this ever so gradually I am reminded of early Pink Floyd. Noisy, feedback laden guitar comes up in the mix. A little past the minute and a half mark (this one is almost thirteen minutes long) they launch out into a faster paced jam. This gets some reworkings and is driven a lot of the time by keyboards. It is driven into a steady upward climb and they shift into some rather Hawkwind oriented directions after a while. The weird space elements that emerge over the top will certainly lead one to think of space rock bands. This gets some Eastern-tinged motifs at times. The bass takes a role in leading us in new directions at a point after the four minute mark. They follow through, moving this more towards fusion, but still the space rock elements perch over the top. A crescendo around the six minute mark drops us into keyboard oriented space weirdness as they begin to gradually bring us back up the slope. As this shifts out to a melodic, flowing progression the Pink Floyd comparisons seem obvious. As they take us through an extended keyboard solo section one will probably hear both Floyd and the Doors. They take us into more full space rock for a time. The cut continues to evolve moving through some great territory and at times Traffic seems to be added to the mix. This ends quite abruptly.
Dimland
A more psychedelic texture leads this, the longest track (almost fourteen minutes in length) off. Other sounds swirl upward and the group launch out into a hard edged jam that’s quite frantic. It seems to combine psychedelia, jazz and space rock into one solid structure. We get some Eastern tones here and there as they work through the progressions. They work this out into quite a powerful progressive rock jam for a time. Then a return to the Eastern tones that feels a lot like Rainbow gives us a false ending. Keyboard sounds and other elements come back up ever so gradually. We get hints of sitar music here. This builds back up into a cool jazz oriented psychedelic jam. This seems to merge a lot of the same motifs, Pink Floyd and the Doors with a bit of a reggae beat. It turns a bit funky as it starts to rock out more. Then it shifts into more space rock territory before firing out into a frantic hard edged jam with more space layers on the top. A screaming, but very tasty, guitar solo takes it for a time. Then we move out to a bass and percussion jam for a while. They take us back out into another smoking guitar solo section. It’s definitely got a very 1970’s guitar hero feel to it. This segment is the one that closes things out.
 
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