(Of the four albums I meant to review before Christmas, this was the one that fell by the wayside. So, better late than never, eh?)
"Non-genre-based compositions"? Er, not quite.
Ampersand --- Villebrad --- 2012 (Transubstans)
Okay, first things first: for those who don't know, "ampersand" is that little symbol that signifies "and". You know the one, looks like "&". Why is the album called that? I have no idea. The band's name though, Villebrad, apparently comes from a Swedish word for quarry or prey. They're Swedish, in case you hadn't guessed. Formed in 2004 by brothers Erik and Pahl Sundstrom, Villebrad was the coming together of some pretty apposite influences, blending hard rock, electronic, ambient, progressive and even folk elements into one band, the two boys having cut their musical teeth for over a decade in metal, prog rock and electronica bands. With a desire to write "non genre based compositions", Villebrad were setting themselves a rather lofty and perhaps unattainable goal, and on this, their third album, and first in English, I must say that I feel they still fall far short of that ambition. The album is good, even great in places, but comes across to me more as a hybrid of progressive rock with electronic and some dance elements. Not groundbreaking, and certainly not genre-free, but certainly interesting.
"Sketchy feelings" opens the album on high-pitched vocoder, reminding me of the work of Pink Floyd on "A momentary lapse of reason", then kicks into a pretty standard rock/pop song with electronic overtones, nice guitar work from Pahl and Erik filling in with some weird warrbly whistling keys. Pahl is lead vocalist and sounds to me rather a lot like a-ha's Morten Harkett, which is no bad thing. Nice percussion also from Erik, which doesn't come across as electronic or sterile, and a lovely blast of sax from Magnus Kjellstrand helps lift the song and give it extra soul. More almost in the Ultravox mode is "Liberation day", with Erik's keyboards mostly driving the melody, supported by a fine little bass line from Petter Broman. There's a lot more as I say of the electronic pop about this one, with little of the slight rock influence evident in the opener, and it's also slower, though not really what you'd call a ballad. Good backing vocals, reinforcing for me the a-ha comparison I made earlier.
Also quite keyboard driven is "Clouded sleeping buildings", with an more uptempo beat, short, tinny keys like one of those old cheap Casio machines stabbing through the melody, a good vocal from Pahl but not too much in the way of guitar. Some atmospheric synth creates a nice backdrop against which a constant percussive beat taps, with some nice choral vocals on the keys breaking in as the song slow in the last minute, before it takes up again in a driving finale. Truth to tell though, as I've listened to this album there hasn't been that much that's stood out or impressed me. "Dead weight" changes this slightly, one of the better tracks, with a racing, computer-game melody on the keys and some solid drumming, a laconic, almost mournful vocal from Pahl while the general atmosphere of the song takes on that of an eighties new-wave composition. Fine backing vocals from Erik add to this, and his powerful and varied keyswork really creates and supports this track. It's a little repetitive, to be fair, with not too much in the way of originality or variety in the lyric, but considering the title perhaps that's intentional? Anyway, it's definitely one of the tracks that made me sit up and take notice.
Things begin to take a turn for the better after that, with "Split in two" a funky, dancy catchy song with a great squealing keyboard line and some almost timpani-like drumwork from Erik, while "Inertia" is built around a busy bassline and some dancy keyboards with Erik's echoing synth lines permeating the melody like veins in a rock. The vocal from Pahl is indistinct and hard to make out, but the music is pushed to the front so in some ways that doesn't really seem to matter all that much. Pahl does however add a nice guitar line in the last minute, but maddeningly it's fractured and broken --- obviously quite deliberately, though why I don't know: sounds terrible --- and we move into "No more open hands", the track I'd consider the ballad on the album. Pahl's vocal here is clear and soft, with a ringing, sharp guitar line carrying the music, some nice piano from Erik filtering in, but it's mostly his brother's song.
The title track then is probably the most rock-oriented, though it opens on a deceptively gentle lush keyboard line. Pahl's electric guitar quickly breaks through though and takes the song in a new direction, with Erik's keys and synths turning a little more solid and aggressive, the whole thing instrumental as Petter Broman shows he's not just there to make up the numbers with a thumping, hypnotic bassline on which the main song hangs, little in the way of percussion with a big finish. This, and the closer, show what perhaps Villebrad can accomplish if they really put their minds to it. "Harm" is in fact the longest track on the album, over seven minutes, and driving on the twin rails of Pahl's acoustic guitar and Erik's bipping, squeaking keyboards, a lot of OMD or Echo and the Bunnymen in it, touches perhaps of China Crisis there too. It's a great vocal performance from Pahl, with the two brothers meshing, along with the rest of the band, into one almost indistinguishable whole, almost as if for the first time they're working as a unit and not separate parts of the machine. Some very proggy keyboard touches from Erik, but it's the guitar hook that runs from about the third minute to the end that really defines the song, and that you're left humming as you put the disc away. Some more fine sax leaks in too, and Broman's bass is a constant heartbeat through the melody.
The remaining four minutes, in fact, are completely instrumental, and it's a testament to the expertise and accomplished musicianship of the band that it doesn't get boring or repetitive. In fact, it almost seems to fade out too soon. Saved the best for last? Yes, they certainly have: it's just a pity that the rest of the album --- a few tracks notwithstanding --- fails to live up to the high promise of this most interesting, but ultimately underachieving album.
TRACKLISTING
1. Sketchy feelings
2. Liberation day
3. Clouded sleeping buildings
4. Dead weight
5. Split in two
6. Another worthless phrase
7. Inertia
8. No more open hands
9. Ampersand
10. Harm