Dungen
aren't exactly mellowing in their old age, but
Skit I Allt
-- which roughly translates to "fuck it all" -- finds the band relying less and less on the fuzzy psych-rock fireworks that filled earlier albums. Instead, the guys dream up a sophisticated, widescreen version of psychedelia, with folk and offbeat jazz playing as big a role as guitar heroics. The result is part retro, part avant-garde, and part polyrhythmic elevator music, which is to say it sounds wholly
. Frontman
Gustav Ejstes
still plays more instruments than anyone else, but
are no longer his solo project. They're a power trio, with longtime partner
Reine Fiske
draping his spiderweb guitar riffs over everything and
Johan Holmegard
handling most of the percussion duties.
Mattias Gustavsson
is also credited as a full-time member, but he only makes several appearances, playing bass on the sprawling
"Hoegdalstoppen"
-- the album's most supercharged rock song, with
Hendrixian
solos and a blissed-out, spooky/trippy intermission that evokes early
Pink Floyd
-- and
"Naesta Sommar,"
a quieter number that cools things down with fingerplucked guitar, flute, and double-tracked vocals.
Ejstes
still sings exclusively Swedish, but it doesn't matter; music is the universal language here, and
's instruments do most of the talking. Like
4
, the band's first album to feature a permanent band,
may come to be viewed as transitional album, the place where
and his band of Merry Pranksters began to frequent the jazz club as often as the rock & roll garage. ~ Andrew Leahey