Over the past several years, European indie pop outfits have become popular in the U.S. With their third full-length album, Swedish electro-folk trio Fredrik plan on making the transition to become one of the latest in this line of successful import acts.
FLORA is a step forward for Fredrik. Firstly, the duo of Fredrik Hultin and O. Lindefelt added instrumentalist/vocalist Anna Moberg to the mix. Her role is felt throughout the album with the addition of a fuller, brighter (think more upbeat and summer sounding) than the band’s earlier work.
The album opens with the dream-pop sequence of “Ylva” and transition smoothly into the seductive urgency of “Vattenfront.” The blending of these tracks sounds similar to what Blonde Redhead did on their latest release, Penny Sparkle. Featuring the ambient vocals of band namesake Hultin, the experimentation with synths, strings, brass instruments and orchestral drums to create a sound that is consistent with what has come out of the region in the past few years.
Instrumental tracks “The North Greatern” and “Caleido Kalahari” are also two intertwined tracks that have an eclectic sound that would have been perfect soundtrack to an ‘80s fantasy film like Legend or the cult classic Labyrinth. It’s very to get lost in the music, with the heavy synths and brass, along with the homemade instruments that band created, dominate and give a sense of mysticism that defines the record.
Another standout track is the driving, narrative-heavy track “The Shape and Colour of Things Gone Blind.” Here, the music serves as background to Hultin’s introspective lyrics. The song is another synth-laded track, but this time the outfit’s self-made instruments dominate the background sound and allow for the singer’s understated vocals to carry the track. His lyrics and vocals channel Ian Curtis and with the music as it is the entire song could have very well been a Joy Division track had they been from Sweden.
The overarching theme of FLORA is for the music to paint a vision of summer as the darkness beneath. The layered surreal soundscape and chunky plugged-in rhythms form an intriguing organic trance-like foundation for the graceful melodies, which accurately reflect this theme. Though the group hardly sounds like the folk group it’s labeled as, Fredrik builds their songs from the dense sound of the aforementioned instruments to create one of the more interesting and creative albums of the year to date.
FLORA will be released on April 12 and as of now, there aren’t any tour dates.
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