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Anekdoten - From Within

Artist:	Anekdoten
Title:	From Within
Label:	Virta 003
Length(s):	51 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1999
Month of review:	11/1999

Line up

Jan Erik Liljestroem - bass, voice
Nicklas Berg - guitar, mellotron, wurlitzer, voice
Peter Nordins - percussives, vibraphone
Anna Sofi Dahlberg - mellotron, piano, rhodes, cello, voice

Tracks

1)	From Within	7.25
2)	Kiss Of Life	4.40
3)	Groundbound	5.25
4)	Hole	11.09
5)	Slow Fire	7.26
6)	Firefly	4.49
7)	The Sun Absolute	6.39
8)	For Someone	3.31

Try a sample of the album in MP3 or RealAudio

Summary

For some time now, this band has been one of my favourites. Finally, they've recorded the follow up to the harsh Nucleus.

The music

The title track opens loudly with fast paced guitar and varied drumming. The intro has something of a very fast waltz. Then the band takes some gas back, and the vocal part begins. The tension in this part is strong: the singing is slow and mesmerizing, while the drumming is soft but quick. Then we return to the intro, but with some more bombasm because of the keyboards. Before we return to the vocal part, we have the bass playing the melody making it more subdued than it already was. Perfectly understated. Kiss Of Life features the mellotron and a powered-up sound. The vocals are sad as ever, as are the lyrics. Depressions can be great. Groundbound is again subdued and for the most part a vocal track. Somber, this first vocal part is not so interesting melodically. After the vocals the dissonant screamy guitar sets in ending in a chaos through which the drummer plods magnificently. Hole opens like Kiss Of Life powerful bombasm pregant with mellotron. After a soft and relaxed vocal part the bombasm returns. The listener (myself) is swept off his feet in the crescendo. Time for some rest now as we move into a soft moody interlude, after which we ride again on the crescent. How quickly eleven minutes can pass. Slow Fire opens very actively. The vocal part is as always softer and shows a longing. In the interlude the drumming comes in waves, washing over you. Firefly has different vocals. It doesn't say so, but this might be Nicklas Berg. His singing is a bit clearer, but also carries less emotion. The Sun Absolute is an instrumental that gradually takes form, like the sun rising in the morning, working itself to a position up in the sky to pour down its merciless rays. As the sun sets the melody disappears slowly from the stage leaving shards of keyboard and a droning bass. The album closes with the short acoustic For Someone. In a way the vocals remind me of Peter Hammills, but I can't say why.

Conclusion

Of course Anekdoten still gives a nod to King Crimson and vocally probably a bit more to Radiohead (or was it the other way around?). Like the former two albums a brilliant example of progressive of today: a marriage between the seventies and the nineties. Compared to the former album Nucleus Anekdoten has taken on a more softer guise, but do not mistake soft for relaxed. The tension is still there, but understated and the longing that speaks from the vocals is still there. This album should not lose Anekdoten any fans, but by its more softspoken approach should appeal to many new ones. Album of the year?