Kemado
2008
4
About This Album
While Tio Bitar saw Gustav Ejstes relinquishing some of Dungen's instrumental duties to other musicians, specifically guitarist Reine Fiske, 4 is the closest he's come to employing a full-time band. The Swedish frontman confines himself to the piano and microphone this time around, only taking occasional stabs at flute and violin, while bassist Mattias Gustavsson and drummer Johan Holmegard join Fiske in creating Dungen's sonic stew. As before, the band brews up a nice mix of psychedelic rock, free jazz, and other vintage genres associated with mind expansion and counterculture ideals. The folk influence that peppered earlier releases isn't as prominent here, however, having been replaced by a newfound emphasis on piano. The instrument lends new, softer textures to several songs, especially when combined with washes of woodwinds and strings. "Marleras Finest," in particular, mixes piano-fueled jazz with vintage elevator music, sounding like something that would've piped through the speakers of a 1960s dentist's office after a laughing gas leak. Elsewhere, the bandmates turn their amplifier knobs to the breaking point while pummeling through a series of improvised psych-rock freak-outs.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7)

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