PLEASE BE QUIET

Quiet, subtle piano and voice (let's talk about it later): "It's early in the morning, when they come, and I like to sleep until three, but she hates this life as much as I..." starts first track here, Whiskers. I've realized that even this song looks like love song about his girl, "whiskers" reference hints that it's actually about his cat. Good one Rikard, you got me here.

Oh, I almost forgot, his voice was one of the best things about Beardfish (one of more great things about this band), so here, it simply shines. "I got down so low, so low [deep bass voice], so low...". Funny Prog music reigns again and for this, I'm always glad. This album flows forward easily, is very pleasant to listen, provides some elements (bass, keyboards twists) from Beardfish (also funny element, so rare in modern Prog music, well, not so many people do shrooms I suppose [OK, this is not drug inducted music as well, but this relation seemed so clear, heh]).

Cover art of person (of some kind, gender, age) done in monumental way (like some kind of ancient fallen statue, with these circle ripples, that are confusing quite a bit). On and On kicks in and stays in faster pace, except short part where there's some kind of interlude towards the rest of song to finally graduate again. Backing vocals together with crazy guitar, building of this song step by step, vocal work (hell, he's so Progressive in this). What more can I say ?

Maybe to continue with No Remorse stars with completely different style of singing again (I'm used to it, it's basic foundation of this album after all). Yes, there's no remorse to multi-instrumental part right after intro, which is some kind of singed "solo" that continues with synthesizers produced solo (real one this time). Song flows like the old river and has very special atmosphere, the accordion is shining star here. And with glimpse of something strange in the very end (last 15 seconds of the song are quite, well, unique)

And going on with Before the Winter which goes into spanish (really?) rhythm, with accordion in the middle (is it really good old acc?) with some kind of "Eagles - Hotel California" guitar solo. These are the best moments here I suppose.

Rumbling Boxes has weird lyrics with sparks of miniature choruses. However, this breaks in the middle, where we experience tiny drums solo and some more jazzy-like lyrics with specific Beardfish (or Rikard's?) atmosphere. And it's changing again in around 6 minutes onwards. It's The Changing Song I would say, full of tiny bits joined in a clever way together. It's like "Paris I Love You" (film), or this episode of The Simpsons (21 short stories about Springfield). Ending with wild keyboard solo.

5(-) to be honest, because if you're fan of Beardfish, you'll love it. And if you're not fan of BF, you're in quite minority here. I like to exaggerate from time to time, when I have a reason to do so. And here, you can find many reasons to do so. Some people may find some songs not so "Prog", however, let's examine them more closely. Hey, just try vocals here, how variable his voice can be. It's strange, but I consider it as the most Progressive thing here. He has more place than in Beardfish to show and prove his skills and, well, it works.

Yet another project of Beardfish'es Rikard Sjöblom, who tends to be the Fabio Zuffanti of Sweden, this time going solo.Sjöblom sings and plays all instruments on his first album from 2009 ''Please Be Quiet''.It contains tracks recorded between 2005 and 2008, most of them in Sjöblom's hometwon Gavle.He is only helped by Beardfish/Bootcut's drummer Peter Diamant in six tracks, Beardfish'es Robert Hansen in another four, while one composition features appearances by Rasmus Diamant (double bass), Peter Fredriksson (trombone) and Tobias Wiklund (trumpet).

It is really hard to believe that Sjöblom composed and performed all this diverse material all by himself.The album has an incredibly professional sound and perfect performances on every single instrument, mixed appropriately, while Gungfly is definitely Sjöblom's most unfocused project by far.It contains 15 tracks, covering all of his influences, and ''Please Be Quiet'' ends up to be the definition of an Art Rock album.The listener can find anything linked to Rock music in here.Power ballads with impressive and strong songwriting, Pop/Psych-influenced tunes of deep inspiraton, more folky pieces with a delicate atmosphere with even a bit of Country flavor, Soft Rock cuts with shining guitars ala DIRE STRAITS, modern rockers with fantastic vocals and catchy choruses and even full-blown Progressive Rock like in the long ''Rumbling Boxes''.The album flows nice and easy, having consistent changes between stronger and lighter tunes, while Sjöblom proves to be a fantastic singer as expected.Great guitar work, tight arrangements, flexible keyboard and piano themes with touches of some nostalgic accordion are there to highlight this musician as one of the most important talents of modern Progressive Rock.

I can see the traditional Prog listener having a weird taste for this release, but anyone willing to open his ears for a progressive album with its wider meaning should add this work in his collection.From marvelous songwriting to demanding compositions, ''Please Be Quiet'' contains it all in a very good level of quality.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.