LOGH - A Sunset Panorama

Here come the Swedish Logh again. Finally. Now on their third album after 2002's "Every Time A Bell Rings, An Angel Gets His Wings" and 2003's "The Raging Sun", the band chose, for this new effort, to set aside the calm melodies already present on their previous records, focusing entirely on minimal, direct songs. Minimal because every single instrument (voice included) carries the same weight and relevance as the others. To achieve this, the band shut themselves away in the studio, wrote, arranged and played the tracks for six months, then recorded them live in a single day (on 26 September 2004, to be exact).

Some may well like this choice, but the record suffers a little for it, keeping the same sound throughout, with vocalist Mattias Friberg seeming perhaps too focused on singing and playing together without a hitch, forgetting to let a bit more emotion shine through. Or maybe it's just his icily, tremendously Swedish way of being. We may never know...

The fact remains that "A Sunset Panorama" is a lyrical, intimate record: whispered, sparsely-played songs like "Bring On The Ether" (one of the collection's peaks), "The Big Sleep" and "Ahabian" alternate with more complex ones like "My Teacher's Bed", "A Sunset Night Fight", "Trace Back the Particle Track" (which brings to mind our own Giardini di Mirò) and "Desinymanifesto", a catchy, almost pop track that will appeal to Doves fans and to anyone still endlessly waiting for the next New Order single (it's no coincidence that it's the track radio has fallen in love with).

Mattias Friberg (who at times may bring to mind Ed Harcourt) puts himself very much on the line, telling us about fears, anxieties, depression and disillusionment, giving the impression of confessing directly to the listener. These songs feel like a kind of diary, of things that happened in the past and are just waiting to fade away to make room for the present.

It probably could have been done better, but this test has been passed nonetheless, if only because it shows the growing maturity of the path Logh set out on years ago.

A record with all the limitations of a band that decides to record live in a single day, but still a good album with clean guitars. An accompanying DVD documents the recording sessions, revealing a shy, composed band far too focused on playing well to strike rockstar poses or crack a smile for the camera, with the only eccentricities allowed being a copper vase and a tambourine.

I just wonder: if I ran into them on the street and tried to mess up their hair, what would happen?

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30/04/2026