Words by Justin Turford
In a fair world Daniel Ögren should be a musician on the lips of the many not just the ones in the know. A Swedish composer, producer and guitarist with eight solo albums behind him and a founding member of the absolutely brilliant cosmic soul quartet Dina Ögon, Daniel oozes class. Genres are but playthings in his hands; beautiful, heart-stopping music appearing to flow out of him with apparent ease.
Mr Bongo are thankfully offering us a vinyl reissue of 2020’s ‘Fastingen-92’, which was originally a very limited pressing on one of our new favourite labels Sing A Song Fighter (who also introduced us to Dina Ögon's music and collaborated on THIS by Vumbi Dekula recently!).
The album includes the widescreen majesty of 'Idag’, an epic Radiohead-esque Scandinavian folk drama featuring the elegantly celestial singer-songwriter Anna Ahnlund; this particular collaborative success directly leading to the birth of the Dina Ögon project.
“I have always loved playing together with Anna and Christopher and when this tune came up, I was like “this has to continue!”. So, I asked Anna if she wanted to write some more lyrics and melodies to some other chord changes I could come up with. Both Christopher and Anna wanted to do this so then we asked Love Örsan, whom we played with during recordings of Sven Wunder’s music, to join us. Everyone felt like doing this and we had a lot of fun making the first songs.” - from an interview with Mr Bongo, August 2023
'Idag’, however, is no signpost to how the rest of the record sounds, for Daniel’s ambition and magpie ear appears to have no bounds.
Tracks like the opening song ‘Annalena’ or ‘Kristinehamn by night (for Christopher)’ inhabit a world somewhere between experimental accordion led cumbia and the wild synth stylings of some of the Saharan artists labels like Sahel Sounds have been discovering. ‘Annalena’s’ tropical drum groove hints sweetly at the classic Linn drum machine preset so memorably utilised by Sly Stone amongst many, with levels of hand percussion and an unhinged cuica part giving it a sweltering, irresistible atmosphere. This would fit beautifully into a cumbia rebajada set. ‘Kristinehamn by night (for Christopher)’ by contrast sounds like the title track to a Peruvian detective series with its addictive synth hooks and ‘exotica’ sounding production trickery.
‘Hjälmarsfjorden’ is all wonky-funky cinema soundtrack, again with hard-to-define pan-global melodic influences riding over its shuffling rhythm section and squidgy synth bassline. Daniel’s band on this album includes long time collaborator Christopher Cantillo on drums (another member of Dina Ögon), and who also records alongside Daniel with the spectacular composer and producer Sven Wunder. The Swedish underground these days is a hothouse of exceptional musicianship and collaboration and we can hear the shared influences segueing between one artist and the other here with the production’s lush and layered mixing of multiple instruments into a significant whole; a throwback in some ways to the classic big studio sonics of the 1970s.
'Maj (for Tintin)' is an insistent yet dreamy Balearic-esque number with relentlessly hypnotic drums and half speed orchestral strings that could be a long lost Italo track with a separate beatless Nordic orchestral piece mixed over the top such is its 90s ‘chillout room’ mood.
The sublime ‘Picasso’ marries an Andean character with exquisite folk rock guitars and a delicate percussion rumble. The heavily reverbed field recording sounds of birds and harmonic sparks add a magical spirit to its pastoral charms - another song from the album that should have sunshine DJs salivating!
The Scandi-jazz ambience of ‘Levi’ is a soulful and sleepy dive into a lake of gossamer piano fingering and heavily treated synths. An absolute gem fit for a bedtime meditation or a slow panning shot across a natural horizon.
‘Oktober (for Lo)’ is a lightly weighted tune fit (yet again) for cinema. Melancholic yet somehow breezy in intent and delivery (just like October I suppose), the journey is the point as the gentle strum of the acoustic guitar assists the electric’s unhurried jazz-meets-nature solo wanderings.
An extra (previously digital only) song has been added to this new pressing. ‘April’ is a jaunty 60s style acid-folk instrumental that is spring personified with its hopeful chords and loose-limbed ensemble sound. Elements of psyche and bar room chaos slip into the track as it tumbles its way to the end, a fitting new finale to a constantly slippery and surprising album.
Daniel’s compositional and production skills are something to marvel at. With only a few listens, many of his melodies are already embedded in my skull yet each listen reveals more. Somebody give this man a film to score! 10/10
PRE-ORDER HERE! https://www.mrbongo.com/products/fastingen-92-vinyl-lp-cd
