Stenhjärta - 2

Blod's Gustaf Dicksson and fellow Discreet alumni Magnus Jäverling reconnect for a second record of 70s Swedish progg-influenced folk that also reveals some of the other touchstones floating around in the duo's collective orbit. I won't pretend to be any kind of aficionado of the music Dicksson and Jäverling are said to be channeling (note to self: must listen to Kjell Höglund and Ulf Dageby), though we have heard traces of this sound in a few of the 'song-based' Blod records of the past few years, which perhaps renders it a little more familiar than if approaching cold. What I do mostly detect, however, is a desire for the kind of sing-song absurdism that ran through the late 80s/early 90s lo-fi underground, something akin to Jad Fair, Moe Tucker's solo output or even a more stripped back Tall Dwarfs, and the emotional freeness US private press outsider folk ala Simon Finn or Peter Grudzien. In its way, I suppose you could consider this as close as Discreet get to pop music, though in typically obtuse fashion, it's set sufficiently off centre to keep you guessing and coming back for more.
 
FFO: Jad Fair, Moe Tucker, Peter Grudzien, Simon Finn