TUSSILAGO FANFARA

A wonderful Swedish experimental electronic group from the original heyday of progressive music, Anna Själv Tredje build on the sound created by the Berlin school masters but add a touch of dark mystery and potential horror.

Tussilago Fanfara is a darkly atmospheric synth exploration with strong echo effects and very deep production that makes it sound as if this music is generating itself out of a giant hole in the ground. For the most part, gentle mysterious synth washes flow endlessly in an all- consuming cosmic fashion, but "Unkomster Utanför Tiden" is a definite standout with soft tribal-esque percussion, synthetic organ noodling, and electronically manipulated guitar playing. The guitar doesn't seem to fit all to well and kind of drowns out the mysterious underwater type of atmosphere established by the first half of the composition, but this is mostly because of the tinny and overpowering treble. The guitar sounds much more appropriate on "Tusen εr & Sju" where it is fixed with a delay that helps it blend more appropriately into the moody electronic background that nestles another set of simple tribal percussion, which all comes together to create a track that sounds like Ashra in depressive mode.

"Den barbariska söndagen" is the track that is most influenced by Schulze, but mostly only because of the demanding progressiveness of the composition. Thick cascades of sequencers and synths build slowly until picking up the pace near the half-way point where intermittent crashing symbols add impressive drama and the track simply slows down and drifts into the darkness.

This sole album by Anna Själv Tredje is a bit more interesting than typical Berlin school albums of this era because of the impressive goth atmosphere and periodic tribal percussion that sets this among the unique albums in its genre.