[mp3] Dungen // Marken Låg Stilla

Written on April 30, 2011 by Dave in Music

Every year since the late 1990s, I have sat down and created a year end mix to summarize my favorite tracks from the past twelve months. Every year this mix seems to be completed later and later, and gets longer and longer. The day I write this post (April 28), I have finally completed the lovingly curated, nearly 270 minute compilation that will document my 2010 musical journey. In the early days, my mix was carefully sequenced and dubbed to a custom CD-R with artwork and distributed a list of my closest friends. In the spirit of the good old days, I want to share a little bit of my mix with all of you.

I wanted to select something that hadn’t been covered here before, which was difficult since Andy, Dave, Will, Rich & Rhys did such a bang up job covering 2k10, and hell, I had found a good number of the tracks and bands on the mix right here. That said, one of my very favorite artists, albums and songs from the past year has never made an appearance on the blog, namely the song “Marken Låg Stilla” (The Ground Lay Still) from the album Skit i allt (Fuck It All) by the band Dungen (The Grove). That will be the last of the translation I will provide you, as an understanding of the Swedish language is not a prerequisite to enjoy the pastoral, psychedelic ambiance of their beautiful music.

Dungen // Marken Låg Stilla [mp3] from Skit I Allt

What we have here isn’t the psychedelic freak out of 2004′s breakout album Ta Det Lugnt, or the blistering guitar rock of 2008′s 4. It’s focus is maintained on what can be best described as the “pretty” side of Dungen. The star attraction of this song is the delicate vocals and subtle piano work of principle songwriter, Gustav Ejstes, who’s flute also prominently colors the backing track. These key elements are maintained throughout the course of album number 7, which rarely raises its voice far above the calm reflection of this track. Dungen seem heavily inspired by the grand concept records of the 1970s, and Skit i allt is one of the of the albums from 2010 that is best listened to from beginning to end. All in all, the record is a refreshing change of pace from the long tenured Swedish group. However there is no need to worry if you are less enthused about Dungen’s recent direction, as this restless band of musicians rarely stays in one place for long.

Keep up with the ever changing Dungen here // Web | Myspace | Label

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