This album is beautiful. The bits of weirdness add interest.
April Records
Gustaf Ljunggren – Fender Rhodes, Synthesizers, Guitars, Programming, Bass; Emil de Waal – Acoustic and Electronic Drums and Percussion, Electronics, Programming
Gustaf Ljunggren and Emil de Waal have been playing together on the Danish music scene for many years. Stockholm København is their third album together. It’s a mish-mash of jazz, Americana, rock, and electronica. Synthesizers and programmed music roam freely but you’ll hear folky sounding guitars as well.
Emil de Waal plays acoustic and electronic drums. Sometimes it’s hard to tell which is which. Maybe it’s the programming that sounds like something’s hitting the edge of a garbage can.
The music’s pulsing. It can feel as if you’re part of some thing’s beating heart.
You can listen, zone out, and let it take your mind to places far away. And then those strumming guitars bring you back. But even the pleasant guitars can be hypnotic.
You can take the music apart, try and decipher where those sounds are coming from. In my notes to ‘Glar ’I wrote “it’s late at night, the neighbor dog’s howling, and there’s drumming coming from outer space.”
A real snare drum is heard on ‘At Line Level.’ There’s also an eerie organ sound being recorded underwater somewhere.
‘Kyklop ’is filled with pretty plucked guitar notes. You can hear the fingers on the strings. There’s a pleasant drum beat pulling the tune along. STOCKHOLM KOBENHAVN is not all electronica. There are human hands making some lovely music.
This album is beautiful. The bits of weirdness add interest. ‘Imnum ’has something that sounds like a raquetball being bounced off a bathroom mirror with dull metal pings and low electric gurgles in the background.
‘Pirates ’is a guitar-filled live recording from 2019. It’s got a Leo Kottke, Grateful Dead, 70’s Laurel Canyon vibe to it.
I think Gustaf Ljunggren and Emil de Wail had fun recording Stockholm København. It hasn’t left my CD player in days.
