DUNGEN - Ta Det Lugnt

Filed under "the ones that got away." A year after its original release (July 2004, on Subliminal Sound), "Ta det lugnt" gets rescued and reissued by Memphis Industries, in the hope of giving greater visibility to this third album by Sweden's Dungen, which ranks among the finest releases of recent times. The extremely warm reception it has received from virtually the entire music press hasn't yet been enough, however, to get the profile of Swedish multi-instrumentalist Gustav Ejstes' project off the ground, and he remains, undeservedly, unknown to most.

Ejstes has crafted a record with a wonderful psychedelic flavor, in love with times gone by but never sounding overly dated or purely revivalist (more out-of-time than retro), brimming with inspiration, experimental in its own way and at the same time gifted with a fertile melodic streak. Out of the tremendous array of instruments used to shape the songs, an acid-rock-based guitar sound emerges as the star, perpetually balanced between shimmer and distortion. The tracks, often built on a folk foundation, are surprising in their structure and evolution, and boast a vivid, quivering sound.

It opens with "Panda," where mighty, almost hard-rock riffs alternate with delicate arpeggios, all driven by the sustained pace of incisive drumming and a discreet, funky bass. "Gjort bort sig" is a psych-folk track, delivered over an electric guitar riff loaded with epic grandeur, while "Festival" starts out with acoustic guitar, bass and drums: little by little the electric guitar joins in, at first limiting itself to a gentle counterpoint, then revealing itself as master, weaving itself into a whirl with chiming piano that carves out a splendid, enchanted, sense-ravishing atmosphere. Two suites follow. The first is "Du är för fin för mig," opened by melancholy violins brimming with grandeur, bursts of guitar and handclaps marking a passage through a Celtic forest, flutes lending it a medieval aura. Out of nowhere a crackling, highly acidic guitar blast sweeps away the melody and the track changes skin, turning into a blazing, explosive jam. The second is instead the title track, "Ta det lugnt," dominated throughout by piano, an epic, retro, Ghost-style declamation at the start, then strumming and cabaret-style spoken delivery carry it into a soft, final jazzy gallop, driven by drums, piano and sax.

The sixth track, the instrumental "Det du tänker idag är du i morgon", is a shifting, multifaceted little tune, though more conventionally structured than what we've heard so far. It's the prelude to a second half that's calmer but no less beautiful. "Lejonet & kulan" is two minutes of noir underscored by deep organ notes (the mood is somewhat reminiscent, if you'll allow the comparison, of "A Saucerful of Secrets"), acting as an intro to the detonation of "Bortglömd", which alternates in its course between very hard-edged passages and moments of high pathos. Classic arrangement and relaxed tone for the beautiful, tender easy-listening song "Lipsill", while the desperate, equally accomplished melody of "Sluta följa efter" is battered, with piano and violins constantly assailed by layers of sickly, distorted guitar.

That's about it. "Ta det lugnt" is a truly precious record, focused, crystalline, perfectly in focus, not innovative yet personal, and in any case beautiful. If you weren't already aware of it, the time has finally come to fix that.

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30/04/2026