BARNDOMENS STIGAR

It's been years since I've listened to this album and even still nearly a year since I unwittingly, if not unwisely, rated this album sans-review. I've always felt and thought fondly of this album, long considering it one of the great, standout releases of latter-day "Second Wave" [pre-Neo-]Prog, a broad fusion of the so-called Eclectic offerings of their darkest and eeriest predecessors (whether it's VdGG, KC, Magma, Henry Cow, Univers Zero or Cos). [This will be a review of the above version including the single bonus track.]

I have found the hesitancy to claim this as some sort of Zeuhl-offshoot to be completely bizarre. It's not like that is what this music is, yet it's a clear, if not obvious, element/influence. We are off to the races with the blazing, tense rhythm of "Höga hästar". Given that this was in 1981, it's markedly modern. Something I didn't expect was how I feel their abilities and group-wide tenacity remind me greatly of American contemporaries Happy The Man. This opening track offers wild, technical bass-playing and strong drumming, the latter reminiscent in more recent memory of the great Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Koenji Hyakkei). The keyboards are bright and buzzing like something we might hear out of Canterbury (think Dave Stewart or Dave Sinclair). A more intimate knowledge of Jazz is evident upon hearing the intro to the even-moreso Kentish "Vemod". The layered vocals are like a combination of "the Northettes" (Amanda Parsons, most notably) and Dagmar Krause (Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, Art Bears). An absolutely stunning and thrilling beginning to the album.

L'Jazz continues on "Småfolket". Kultivator are sure masters of tension. Masters generally of dynamic composition, they handle and weigh beauty with an unfettered darkness. Where those first two tracks were essential Peaks of Prog, this is, in the least, Prog Excellence. A whole other side of things is heard on the light, airy Fender Rhodes intro to "Kära jord" (our longest track at just over 7 minutes' length). The keys sorta funk-out and are met with equally light vocals and tiny, percussive clinks. Very cool feel. Zeuhl-ready vocals wordlessly chant on with the slow build of the ensemble; a much more straight-ahead composition than what came before. Where the rhythm stays the same, they do introduce new melodies and such; where the rhythm does change or pick up, the effect of whatever is going on melodically (even when more simplistic/straight) is intensified. The icing on the cake, which does grant this a firmer position of "great", is the Phil Miller-esque guitar solo toward the end. Phenomenal, but very tasteful (certainly safer, as one might expect, than anything Phil did during his career).

A shift toward Medieval/Renaissance piping occurs on our title track, "Barndomens Stigar". And once again, once kicked off, we have returned to Zeuhl-adjacent territory. Funky stuff, and a great, somewhat classical(?) theme, too! All over a fairly exotic rhythm section. Hard to place, as I'm trying to avoid calling this, too, "jazzy". Though it is haha. Zeuhl-meets-Canterbury does indeed return on the grooving "Grottekvarnen". Lovely, crisp vocals overlay bright keys; they're blazing fast, driven by the high-accuracy roll of the snare drum and, at other times, hi-hat. Hypnotic, really. Super-effected guitar buzzes and bursts over the instensity of the rhythm section and keys in the second half. As with the other longer track before, "Kärajord", this composition is fairly straightforward, but comparitively this has the upper hand, in my opinion, in all its glimmering offerings. I don't know how else to describe "Vårföl" but as mischievous haha. Feels like we're up to no good. Playful, but sort of mysterious. And then the breakdown of the rhythm as we enter into what I would consider the bridge, we get another very tasteful guitar solo over rolling keys and counter-melodious bass. A fantastic 3 minutes!

Then we're onto one of the more memorable tracks of the album (not necessarily one of the best...), "Novarest". The simple, chant-like vocals of just the track's title is exchanged by male and female vocals alike (the first clear glimpse of the former). I would think this to be one of the firmest examples of them exploring the funky, though relatively simple tribal appearances of Zeuhl. We get more of that bright, buzzy guitar here, juxtaposed by the soft chordings from the Rhodes(?). Very funky, very memorable, but not all that interesting. Honestly, just maybe my least favorite song on the album [and it is]. And for the whole, that's saying a lot, as this is still quite a good track. We get more of that pipey sort of medieval thing, as "Häxdans" begins with a battle march. As we get into it, they build upon the theme from the intro, performed predominantly then on guitar, with soft wordless vocals. The layering of all the pieces are super satisfying here, from the rolling, melodic bass, to the at times soft (almost acoustic), at times lightly distorted guitar, to the percussion, to the synth and pipe. Great track. Finishing it all out now is the very short (deceptively short for its title) "Tunnelbanan Medley". Just another quick'n'easy and excellent showcase of this band's ability. It sounds quite a bit like material you could have expected during a live Hatfield performance. They are definitely one of the prime sounds I get herein.

So much diversity on this album that it's surprising there's little to no so-called whiplash at hand. Perhaps, I can now admit, I had approached this album with rose-colored glasses back when I had rated this at first [Though I wasn't that far off haha]. It is a fantastic album nonetheless and I would recommend it to most all Prog fans. Its diversity is one of its strengths, but so is the sheer collective talent of Kultivator. Grateful for the bonus material since made available, but it's a bit of a shame this is their sole release.

True Rate: 4.5/5.0