This Swedish quintet make a jaunty beautiful quite understated music on their debut self titled album. Their name is apparently translated as ‘original sound’ or ‘odd sound,’ and despite their intriguingly melancholic polkas, gypsy tangos and frenzied oompah music you’d hesitate to call their music odd. It does however have a dark fairytale kind of quality, reminiscent at times of Tom Waits Black Rider Orchestra or a less comatose Bohren and Der Club of Gore. The music they make has a vague jazz feel with double bass, saxophone, tuba, piano, violin, but then there’s a few more adventurous instruments like piano accordion, musical saw, oscillators, and something called a sough machine. There’s a real familiar yet alien feel to their music and these unusual instruments, whilst integrated firmly within the music, do offer something quite unique. Perhaps what’s so compelling about this album is the rich diversity of their approaches. The amount of terrain they cover is quite simply astonishing. It’s rare when music this adventurous is so evocative and atmospheric.
Bob Baker Fish
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