Tio Bitar
The profile of Swedish psychedelic rockers Dungen has grown at an alarming rate, from a cult studio project into a worldwide musical phenomenon. On Tio Bitar, we’re hearing the creative processes at hand to make something wholly new and original, yet remaining within the same sphere of emotions that fostered Dungen’s previous albums. Tio Bitar follows world tours and enthusiastic responses from the press and public, and answers the praise with yet another set of cohesive, adventurous rock songs that can’t sit still, yet possess the vision and focus to distance itself from distraction and obvious influences. According to Gustav, it all comes down to one thing. “When I was eight years old,” Gustav remembers, “my mother gave me her copy of Are You Experienced? by Jimi Hendrix. That’s where I first discovered and understood what a ‘groove’ was. Since then, whenever I heard that groove, I recognized it, and I liked it.” He’s not looking to emulate the past, though, at least on the past’s unfailingly outdated terms. “Dungen is not retro,” he states. “Dungen is contemporary. Contemporary because it consists of elements from both then and now.”
After extensive touring, reissuing older material, and recasting their breakthrough album, 2004's Ta Det Lugnt, Gustav Ejstes and company finally release their follow-up, on which they explore the mellower side of psychedelia.
Given the lysergic aura of Dungen's music, it's unlikely Gustav Ejstes would make any more sense if he sang in English rather than his native Swedish. Fortunately, the mind-bending psychedelic guitars and hot Mitch Mitchell drum-rolls on Dungen's latest, Tio Bitar, translate smashingly well in any language. Coming on…
Finally, Dungen return with the follow-up to 2004’s Ta Det Lugnt. A slower burner of an album that seemed to take an age to finally work it’s way into the general conscious, their continual touring schedule seemed to have endeared themselves to the indie…
It is utterly compelling and maddening to listen to the opening "intro" off Swedish psych-prog outfit Dungen's third album Tio Bitar (which translates as "Ten Pieces/Songs").
So rarely does a band so indebted to the classic rock of the late '60s and early '70s produce music that's almost indescribable, but that's exactly what...