Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Beardfish
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2008
Rating: 5/5
Beardfish, the hugely talented and versatile Swedish prog rockers, built their first masterpiece for plenty of prog connoisseurs with “Sleeping In The Traffic: Part One” (2007). Year after year they’ve become a bigger force in crafting thrilling, experimental musical landscapes, and they’re now one of the leading lights of modern eclectic progressive rock. Unlike their far better-established countrymen The Flower Kings, who also draw on the legacy of the 70s prog rock classics, Beardfish serve up some darker shades, and above all a bigger dose of hard rock, which isn’t exactly a trademark of the modern Scandinavian prog revival.
Alongside the traditional influences of the British prog greats, led by Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson and ELP (in places you can even feel the shadow of the great Frank Zappa), their music is packed with elements that usually sit closer to art rock or even hard rock, rooted in the tradition of bands like Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and Kansas. That comes mostly from the punchy heavy rock guitar riffing, the sprawling rhythm section and the generous use of Hammond organ from keyboardist/singer Rikard Sjöblom, who is also a very good and eclectic vocalist. His voice is a mix of “Gabriel-esque” theatricality and the melodic, erotically charged pathos typical of most classic rock singers. Sonically, that puts them closer to the Americans Spock’s Beard (if you’re after a comparison) than to their Scandinavian countrymen mentioned above, although they’ve got enough unique qualities to be recognizable in a heartbeat. You can’t just stick them in a pigeonhole, because their music covers an incredibly wide cross-genre spectrum, reaching from folk, avant-garde, jazz fusion, symphonic, pop rock and heavy metal to art rock and even a brief burlesque flash of country (on one of the tracks on this album). Every now and then they also love to reach for the Mellotron, which, together with the extensive use of Hammonds and the “archaic” vocals, gives them a seriously retro sound.
Beardifsh wouldn’t be proper Scandinavian prog rockers if they hadn’t put more than 70 minutes of music on this album, plus at least one epic running over 20 minutes (the title track clocks in at more than 35!). But any fears that, in The Flower Kings style, it’s padded with pointless, possibly boring filler are completely unfounded. The second part of the “Sleeping In The Traffic” saga is a tense, turbulent and unpredictable adventure from start to finish, and despite the goofy title there isn’t a single moment to snooze through. The most impressive thing about “Sleepin In The Traffic: Part Two” is that the band manages to combine avant-garde, eccentric clowning that reaches all the way back to Zappa’s legacy, hard rock rowdiness, and traditional (symphonic) prog rock seriousness. The lyrics are often tongue-in-cheek too. It’s great that despite their technical polish and high virtuosity, the band doesn’t take it all too seriously, which often gets on my nerves with some modern prog acts that want to be far too “clever” in both music and lyrics for their own good. The concept of the “Sleeping In Traffic” saga is extremely simple: it describes 24 hours in the life of an unnamed person (what happens to them during that time). If the first part covered the goings-on during the day, this one covers the night. Accordingly you’d expect a noticeably darker mood to dominate, but that’s only present on some parts of the album. For the most part, bounciness and fun rule the day.
The nocturnal action and atmosphere are confirmed right away by the short symphonic instrumental opener “As The Sun Sets”, which sets the stage for the whole album (the tracks flow into one another). I could go on at length about the details of the individual arrangements and the sprawling instrumental sections, but this review is trying to avoid turning into a short novel, so I’ll stick to the essential strengths of each composition. The branching sections of individual songs could easily be split into several tracks and they’d all still sound great, which tells you a lot about how colorful this record is compositionally. “Into The Night” is a great track, spiced with a mighty, energetic pulse, packing a wide palette of cross-genre elements from folk, avant-garde, fusion and space rock to classic rock. Rich Hammond passages and a great vocal performance are backed by heavy rock guitar lines and a pulsing bass line. The arrangements and the nature of the song keep shifting, from calmer moments that build a nighttime mood through the lyrics too, to bouncier and even comical stretches. Even though most of the complex arrangements are melodic by nature and fun, bouncy rhythms dominate, the album demands deep listening, because even the most demanding listener will find something new in the compositions on every spin, say a keyboard arrangement or guitar riff they’d overlooked before.
Next comes the excellent “The Hunter”, marked by its remarkable rhythmic variety. After an instrumental start, the Hammond organ lines come crashing in in fine style, backed by mighty guitar riffing and a superb melodic vocal performance. The mighty, dominant Hammond line keeps that retro classic rock flavor going throughout. Most of the musical flourishes in this track bring back memories of some of the legendary Uriah Heep’s work. An even bigger treat is “South Of The Border”, where they demonstrate more clearly than before that they’ve got a great sense of humor, one of those qualities that most bands today miss, since they usually try to sound as serious as possible. The song is full of allusions (in the lyrics too) to various heavy rock and classic rock bands of the 70s, with erotic connotations and unmistakable heavy rock moves that pull closest to Deep Purple. In the middle there’s a short improvisational section with guitar and bass solos, and a short country section isn’t missing either, which is followed in the next moment by a genuine heavy metal section and then something completely different again. Some of the clowning ideas in this composition would probably have tickled the immortal Frank Zappa too. A flat-out ten out of ten. Then comes the goofy instrumental “Cashflow”, with a flood of rhythmic changes, fun guitar riffs and all kinds of playful keyboard sounds. The swaying, baroque middle section is especially fun, and with its clowning nature it pulls quite a bit toward Gentle Giant. “The Downward Spiral/Chimay” is the darkest-colored piece on the album, thanks mostly to the slow rhythm (easily the slowest on the album), the slightly eerie synth sound, the obscure guitar and the sarcastic lyrics. In the second half there’s a sprawling instrumental section drawing on many musical traditions that carries the song off into yet another dimension. It all adds up to this composition earning top marks too for variety, fun and unpredictability.
The centerpiece of the album and the main feast for all prog fanatics is undoubtedly the title track, the 35-plus-minute super epic “Sleeping In Traffic”, a long but unforgettable journey through truly cosmic territory that can’t leave even the most demanding of demanding music connoisseurs cold. This spacey, multi-dimensional composition, which opens and closes with the same riff, is seasoned with so many different yet consistently entertaining motifs and transitions that it doesn’t take long at all, just a few listens, before its brilliance completely takes hold of the listener. It’s got everything the heart of any demanding prog connoisseur desires: excellent instrumental segments with unpredictable rhythmic shifts, melodic vocal sections, dreamy ambient moments with majestic layers of keyboards (led by the Mellotron), and no shortage of goofy and avant-garde experiments either. Fans of harder-hitting, even melodic metal sounds will also get their fill in some sections where mighty guitar riffing and juicy solos, punchy drum transitions and epic vocals show up. It’s one of those epic masterpieces with the power to teleport the listener from one place to another in an instant with its energy and atmosphere. Its presence alone earns this album a spot among the best prog rock achievements of 2008. Given Beardfish’s proverbial compositional excellence and perfectionism, though, that wasn’t a big surprise at all.
The continuation of the “Sleeping In Traffic” saga is, without any exaggeration, one of the best achievements in eclectic progressive rock in recent years, and confirmation that Beardfish are increasingly establishing themselves as one of the central progressive rock bands at the start of the 21st century. The album, which builds on the first part in both sonic and compositional scope, is a unique challenge as well as entertainment for every prog connoisseur, even the one who likes to brag that they’ve heard “everything” and that nothing can surprise them anymore. “Sleeping In Traffic: Part Two” has the remarkable power to suck the listener in from the very first moment and take them on a long, unpredictable musical adventure full of unexpected twists and mood changes, which in my book is still the main hallmark of quality progressive rock. By all appearances, Beardfish have a long and bright future ahead of them among the elite of modern prog rock.
Lineup
Rikard Sjöblom – vocals, keyboards
David Zackrisson – guitar
Robert Hansen – bass guitar
Magnus Östgren – drums
Production
Beardfish
Tracklist
1. As The Sun Sets (1:13)
2. Into The Night (8:52)
3. The Hunter (5:57)
4. South Of The Border (7:43)
5. Cashflow (6:08)
6. The Downward Spiral/Chimay (7.10)
7. Sleeping In Traffic (35.44)
8. Sunrise Again (1.37)
Album length: 74:24
