Dungen, ‘Nattens Sista Strimma Ljus’

Credit: Dungen / Mexican Summer. YouTube

When someone pops back into your life after a long absence, it is natural to want to pick up where you left off. Both parties realize that things have changed, while instinctively knowing that reconnecting on common ground is the first step in moving into unknown territory. And after a six-year hiatus, Dungen returns with a song that says "hello again" with a customary refrain of scorching guitars, thunderous drums and reverb dialed to 11. The kaleidoscopic feel of "Nattens Sista Strimma Ljus" ("The Night's Last Shimmer of Light") becomes almost otherworldly via Gustav Ejstes' Swedish vocals, his tenor swooping in and out of the maelstrom.

Much has changed since we last heard from the Swedish psychedelic rock quartet: Ejstes is sober, saying in a press release, "It has actually become even more trippy to experience music if you don't take away the edges of life. It gets very real." While sobriety is spelled out in the title of the band's new collection En Är För Mycket och Tusen Aldrig Nog (One is Too Much and a Thousand is Never Enough, out Oct. 7 via Mexican Summer), Dungen is also taking a fresh approach by incorporating turntables, samples and loops. With "Nattens Sista Strimma Ljus," however, Dungen proves that reinvention does not have to mean scrapping everything, and reunions are happiest in a familiar setting.

◈ Stream "Nattens Sista Strimma Ljus" by Dungen

◈ Read: The Swedish band Dungen has been pushing the boundaries of psychedelic rock since the dawn of the century.

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Original Article