Kungens Män - Dag & Natt

Adansonia Records (AR019)

Kungens Män from Sweden have already stabilized their place in the hearts and minds of underground psych rock fans and this new studio double album will for sure make them even more loved. Their music might not appeal to you right away because their long jams just need time to get your full attention and understanding, but when you get it you will be in love. This time the tracks are a bit shorter (well, relatively speaking...) and over 3 minutes to almost 14 minutes in length. As the tittle  (Day and Night) suggests, the album takes the listener through one day and night starting from the lazy and still half sleepy "Morgonrodnad" in the morning and ending the circle with "Circeln Är Slut" at the end of the night.

The improvised and highly psychedelic music is still mostly instrumental, but we do get some occasional human voice as well. Some of the tracks like "Dag", "Samtidigt", "Aftonstjärnan" and "Vargtimmen" have a more energetic, krautrock-like beat, but usually the band stays rather chilled out and relaxed. The saxophone gives a nice, jazzy extra layer to the sonic palette, and the whole album has a very cool, dreamy atmosphere. The two guitar players are usually the ones that I tend to keep focused on, but that's just because the rhythm section plays like one seamless unit and the synths are mostly just to create nice, floating vibes. For example on the hazy "Natt" the saxophone player gets more attention. On "Månen Tur och Retur" the band gets heavier and more intense than usual and I like that too. They also show a bit groovier side on "Ett Tappad Perspektiv" that also has weird experimental edge and a wild solo guitar part. The shortest piece "Mara" is an odd experimental ambient piece with drum machine by the synth player. All in all, another masterpiece by this great band that you really should check out in peace if you haven't already. I can also confirm that Adansonia have yet again delivered a really cool package with extras for the 2LP version... Artwork is by the band's bass player like usual. Amazing!

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