ALBUM REVIEW: Konkret Musik – Gösta Berlings Saga

For the last twenty years, Swedish instrumentalists GÖSTA BERLINGS SAGA have been meticulously crafting expansive, progressive rock landscapes to take the listener on a journey of their own choosing. After quickly getting into their groove, the Scandinavians hit a peak in 2018 with Et Ex, undoubtedly their best album to date up until that point. As such, topping it wouldn’t be an easy feat. However, that’s exactly what they intend to do with sixth album Konkret Musik, released today via Inside Out Music and featuring percussionist Jesper Skakrin for the very first time.

An intergral part of GÖSTA BERLINGS SAGA since the beginning has been their use of synthesisers, however on Konkret Musik they’re featured more prominently than on previously releases. This experimentation has led to some rather interesting results, although at no point does this make the record clunky or jarring; it all flows beautifully and makes sense when viewed as a whole body of work.

Take the tracks Basement Traps and Släpad, for example – if you were playing a first-person RPG, you might have the former as the in-game music whilst storming the enemy’s main compound and the latter when face-to-face with the final boss. Between these is Vinsta Guldklocka, which harks right back to the eighties and conjures images of David Hasselhoff driving K.I.T in Knight Rider. Immediately following this trio is the meandering Close to Home, bringing the pace right down and doffing a hat to the godfather of all things electronica, JEAN MICHEL JARRE. In fact, it’s  not until the title track that the rock side of the music really comes to the fore, a bright number with added psychedelic flavours.

From hereon in, the synth-heavy tracks take more of a back seat and are used primarily for shorter interludes, but that doesn’t disrupt the journey that Konkret Musik is embarking on. Let’s look at one of these sections, Instrument VI – coming off the back of the progressive To Never Return might have seemed a drastic change in style, but it’s silky smooth and then builds into the full-band explosion of The Pugilist, before A Fucking Good Man takes things full circle. And then, it gets curious – Förbifart Stockholm gets very avant garde, almost a bit funky in places and A Question of Currency is a sedate ending of just acoustic guitar and piano. Yet, despite this left-field turn, at no point does Konkret Musik deviate and lose the listener; it’s all part of the experience and doesn’t detract from that in the slightest.

GÖSTA BERLINGS SAGA could feel they have nothing to prove anymore, but Konkret Musik is the sound of a band still pushing their own boundaries and striving to reach that next level. Any risks taken have paid off well, and if you’re a fan of EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY or CASPIAN, you’ll enjoy what this five piece have to offer.

Rating: 7/10

Konkret Musik is out now via InsideOut Music.

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