Kent - Tillbaka Till Samtiden (October 17, 2007)

Sweden, Sweden... What do I know about Sweden? Hmm... Carlson, nice friends, universities, Abba... The Hives... and Kent!

They are never fond of appearing in public. Always quiet and even not having official website in English! Always hidden from mass media, they are still favourites not only in Sweden but also aboard.

Tillbaka Till Samtiden (Back To The Present) is the seventh studio album of Kent. This record is from my favourite subject of metamorphoses. Starting in 1990 in a little Swedish town Eskilstuna, this band has lived an evolution of sound, starting from rough guitars and inexperienced, unusual vocal for rock music in their first album Kent (1995), reaching to wise mixture of different music styles in their latest record. Partially reminding Depeche Mode now, Kent still haven’t lost their own style noticeable for Joakim Berg’s unforgettable vocal which will make you tremble in Sömnen (The Sleep), cold, typical Swedish tunes, depressive mood and something that is very hard to understand but which ties you to their music. It’s something below your conscience, not logical and indescribable.
All songs in the album are in Swedish: another fact that will make you wonder everytime you come back to their music… “I don’t understand a word from it!” - I said to myself thousands of times. Yes, folks, Kent is more the band of music than lyrics. Although I have found the translations of the song lyrics but I can never remember what they are about. Joakim Berg states that he uses the method of copy-pasting, that’s why sometimes the lyrics make no sense.
In the album you can find consisting-of-2-parts songs. This method of contrast Kent have been using since their first album (for example, När det blåser på månen) but it reaches its limits especially in the latest one. The brightest examples are Elefanter, Vid Din Sida, LSD, Någon?
Having elements of disco music from 80s, using different instruments apart from classic ones, female vocals (usual thing for Kent, lovely), so much reminding of Depeche Mode, in some kind of urban style, Tillbaka Till Samtiden is worthy to listen to and add in media library for sure!

1. "Elefanter" (Elephants) – 5:21
2. "Berlin" (Berlin) – 4:36
3. "Ingenting" (Nothing) – 4:17
4. "Vid din sida" (By your side) – 4:58
5. "Columbus" (Columbus) – 4:29
6. "Sömnen" (The Sleep) – 4:08
7. "Vy från ett luftslott" (View from a Castle in the Air) – 4:25
8. "Våga vara rädd" (Dare to be Afraid) – 4:00
9. "LSD, någon?" (LSD, anyone?) – 4:20
10. "Generation Ex" (Generation Ex) – 4:30
11. "Ensammast i Sverige" (Loneliest in Sweden) – 8:20

Yours truly
Gaya


3 comments:

Manu said...

only when you go to Sweden you understand how Swedish is Kent's music and how well it describes Sweden and Swedish, especially the song Sverige...

Anonymous said...

Sverige, is the least intressting song imo, but I cant imagine myself loving kent as much as i do if I did not understand swedish..

Manu said...

yes, i think i would love them even more if i knew Swedish...