Agusa - Agusa

Agusa – Agusa

Swedish psychedelic band Agusa present their self-titled third album, their second release on the Lasers Edge label and a follow up to 2015’s Agusa 2 (‘Tva’), an album that consisted of just two tracks spanning some forty minutes. On this new release the tracks follow more traditional lengths, ranging between five and ten minutes.

I am a bit late to the party on this one, having been released in the latter part of 2017 it has sat amongst my to do pile and despite playing it several times I have only just got around to putting some thoughts down. The album, spanning some forty three minutes, was recorded and mixed by Viktor Rinneby and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Bob Katz, the sleeve art is by Danilo Stankovic.

Jenny Puertas was added to the band line up in 2015 and her flute contributions are an important part of Agusa’s current sound. The flute leads the melodies and along with the use of the organ goes some way to creating their distinct feel. The music ebbs and flows with a great ability to draw you in to their musical world. Opener Landet Längesen starts with a gentle and almost delicate flute accompanied by the organ, the pace picking up half way through to create a pulsing vibes, reminiscent of early seventies Hawkwind, before things change again.

Throughout the album all the players make excellent contributions to the music, which makes for a very interesting instrumental album, blending psychedelic sounds with Swedish folk, indeed on Den Förtrollade Skogen the guitar appears to have a reggae feel at times, while the organ dances around it. With the tracks mostly stretching to between eight and ten minutes it gives the band the chance to develop and stretch their musical ideas, perfectly pacing each song, the shortest song being the wonderful Sorgenfri, with some memorable flute and an excellent organ section it is a song that has been carefully constructed. Sagor Från Saaris offers a slightly harder edge and a darker feel to the mood of the piece with some great guitar work from Mikael Ödesjö.

Overall this is an excellent album and if you are not familiar with the music coming out of Scandinavia at the moment then this would not be a bad place to start. Give it a listen, it is available now on CD, vinyl and download.

TRACK LISTING
01. Landet Längesen (10:29)
02. Sorgenfri (5:00)
03. Den Förtrollade Skogen (8:33)
04. Sagor Från Saaris (9:20)
05. Bortom Hemom (10:19)

Total time – 43:41

MUSICIANS
Tobias Petterson – Bass
Jeppe Juul – Organ
Jenny Puertas – Flute
Tim Wallander – Drums & Percussion
Mikael Ödesjö – Guitar

ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Lasers Edge
Country of Origin: Sweden
Date of Release: 27th October 2017

LINKS
Agusa – Facebook | Bandcamp