I don't what's going on in Stockholm at the moment, whether it's something in the water or the Scandinavian air but the music coming out of it is top class. Hans Hjelm plays guitar in Kungens Män and is also one of the players in Automatism, a four piece guitar band finding long lasting sweet spots in improvisation. This song, off this year's Into the Sea album, is a nine minute wonder, the lead lines never getting boring or doing the same thing twice but constantly leading the song into new places. The drums pitter patter softly before becoming more Neu!ish, the bass provides momentum and the guitars twist and turn themselves inside out.
Automatism is the state of being out of control of one's actions, not conscious of what one is doing- in law it is a legal defence that a person cannot be found guilty for their actions because they did not know what they were doing. In art it refers to creating art without conscious effort, bringing up material from the unconscious mind. On their Bandcamp page the band say they 'search for the moments where the music plays itself without effort'.
5 comments:
I featured the 'From the Lake' version of this tune over at my place at the beginning of the year and it's a very tough call as to which arrangement of the two I prefer, they are so both bloody magnificent. The good news is that, Mikael Tuominen chatting with me after the recent Kungens Män show, revealed that 'Into the Sea' is finally due to get a belated physical release in the new year. The individual members of Kungens Män have their fingers in so many fascinating musical pies that it's difficult to keep up, physically and financially.
I'll have to check out From The Lake. This is becoming a wormhole of some depth.
Just to say I applaud your choice of artwork here! 'Forest and Dove' one of my faves.
Thanks C. It's ace isn't it?
Art criticism at its finest.
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