Dungen, Ta Det Lugnt
The best album of the year — if 2004 were 1971
The first time I played this 2004 album I thought it one of the best albums of the year. The catch being that, to my mind, the year was 1971. That's how Ta det Lugnt (translation: "Take it easy") sounds, pure and simple: the rhythm section is locked in and unashamedly rockin', the guitars distorted and layered and crunchy and soaring, the singing passionate and frequently soaked in reverb. The whole thing sounded so analog-perfect that it was hard to hear it as something other than a reissue of a lost classic. The fact that Dungen are Swedish doesn't hurt that impression, since so few foreign albums of this vintage made it to American (or British) ears in their time.
The effect becomes even more impressive when you realize that for their second album, Dungen weren't a group in the studio, but one guy, Gustav Ejstes, singing, writing, playing and masterminding nearly the entire thing. (He'd previously recorded with a full band, and has again since; members of his touring group make appearances on the album as well.) And not knowing a word the guy is saying won't stop you from wanting to shout along to his effortless hooks. "Panda," the opening track, features about a half-dozen by itself: splashy drum intro, 3D wah-wah guitar on the verses, bass rutting in the rain on the refrain, not to mention Ejstes overdubbing himself into an urgent harmony group. "Ta det Lugnt" itself snarls beguilingly as Ejstes grinds out a heavy stoner groove, while "Det du tanker idag ar du i morgon" is a lovely piano-led instrumental that evokes Vince Guaraldi: air freshener for a room dense with the smell of superb weed, liberally applied.
