Skit I Allt
Sweden’s Dungen presents a collection of gorgeous, dreamlike melodies, psychedelic stonkers and graceful, jazz-filled polyrhythms. called Skit I Allt. Says main man/ producer/ arranger/ singer Gustav Ejstes: “For me, it means, Don’t give a shit, forget about it, just go ahead and do it. A friend said: “Skit I Allt; Fuck it, do as you want, time is passing and it’s changing, forget fears and hang-ups, we are small and everything is pretty insignificant on the whole. How will it be? What shall we do? We often worry so much unnecessarily. Skit i allt, it’s happening now." In what feels like a very short decade, Sweden’s Dungen has mutated at a furious pace. Main man/ producer/ arranger/ singer/ golden child Gustav Ejstes’s lone constant has been change. At ease with effervescent pop, third-eye popping psychedelia, heavy rock, spider-web folk and breezy jazz, Dungen’s dynamism astounds throughout Skit I Allt . Rather than remain only Ejstes’ studio vision, Dungen is a muscular full band now. Guitarist Reine Fiske, bassist Mattias Gustavsson, and drummer Johan Holmegard are fully integrated into Ejstes’ vision of Dungen: “Whether you perceive Dungen as a band or as me and my songs and my productions, the band is something totally free.” I feel [the presence of the band] more than ever, because even if I am a total control freak they all contribute something unique make the songs come alive.”
The Swedish prog-psych outfit slows down the tempo and experiments with a more expansive sound.
If Gustav Ejstes has shown any particular inclination during his 10-plus years fronting the Swedish prog-pop act Dungen, it’s toward music with a cinematic sweep, even if he has to get that sweep by borrowing from psychedelia, Eurovision kitsch, Celtic folk, post-punk, Krautrock, jazz fusion, or any other style that…
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.