PRIMA MATERIA

Lead guitarist Mikael Odesjo has been the only constant in a band that seems to be continually changing members. There's a new drummer on board this time for their latest "Prima Materia" which is studio album number five for these Swedes. One thing that doesn't change is the quality of music this band releases. How unusual is it that on the RYM site each of their albums is rated higher than the one before and on one occasion they're the same, but that just doesn't happen over five records and there's so many varying opinions. So you know what your going to get with this band, those warm retro sounds that bring a nostalgia and feel good vibe but also some great compositions which they seem to be getting better at.

I really like the album cover as well. The flute seems to be the instrument of choice for soloing with the guitar also getting a fair amount of attention. We get four long tracks over 42 plus minutes on this 2023 release. On the first two tracks I felt a strong CAMEL vibe when they are jamming hard with flute over top, pretty cool. That closing track makes me feel like I'm on a journey and when it and the album ends we hear a cat meow. Well when I first heard it I looked at my cat never hearing him sound quite like that and he's looking at the stereo speakers intently so it was like "No way that's on the record!"

There doesn't seem to be a lot of mellotron on here at all but how good is the distorted organ. More please. What I love about this album is how lost in it I can get. These long pieces also surprise when for example we get that Canterbury-like keyboard sound or the mellotron that suddenly rises. A fine guitarist but I would love for them to go more keyboard driven, so many options maybe less modern sounding which I feel the guitar does for them now. Clavinet, spacey synths, mellotron, fender rhodes bring it on!

Anyway I'll have to sit down with there albums one day and come up with some sort of an order. They're all great but all below my favourites of this style performed by ANEKDOTEN, ANGLAGARD, WOBBLER and on and on. A solid 4 stars and the only warmth I felt musically during a very difficult week last week.