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Magnolia: Falska Vagar

Another band from Sweden has made it to my CD player, although this is a little different than most of the Swedish bands I have had the pleasure of listening to. There is no doubt Magnolia wear their influences on their sleeve. This is classic 60s/70s rock with a heavy dose of the blues. If I was to pick one band as their main inspiration it would probably be Cream. You could also add the band Free to the list. Magnolia is a four piece band with Ronny Eriksson (vocals, bass and guitar), Anders Hedstrom (drums and percussion), Mark Tholin (guitar) and EvaUlrika Gustavsson (vocals and violin).

To give you some history about the band, it all began when Eriksson started to write his own music in the mid-90s, inspired by late 60s and 70s rock and eventually led to the formation of the band. This is Magnolia's second release, I have not heard the first. Listening to this cd it almost feels like I have entered a time warp into those heady days of the late 60s, sitting in a club and listening to an early version of Cream. The music is riff oriented with the guitar garnering most of the spotlight. There are plenty of nice lead guitar riffs to be had, some of them being quite melodic. Most songs have a guitar solo or two and rock pretty hard. This would make a nice companion on those long drives out of the city. One almost senses a live feel when listening to the album and I mean that in a positive way. The music takes on a sense of urgency that one gets from a live atmosphere that I find quite refreshing. Vocal-wise the singer does not have a spectacular voice but his rough sometimes gravelly voice really suits this blues inflected music. I should also note all lyrics are in Swedish, although I could not detect much of an accent.

Most songs rock pretty hard and this is the case with the first tune "I-land Blues", a blues based rocker with a nice guitar riff and solo. Much of the album takes on a similar path so when the band slows the pace down it is quite noticeable as is the case with "Dar hemma". Some nice acoustic guitar and violin give this tune plenty of atmosphere and a real spacey feel making this my favorite on the album so far.

Overall if you like music in a classic blues rock vein, Magnolia should suit your fancy especially if you like the aforementioned bands. This is a good, solid release, and when the mood arises will find its way to my cd player again.


Track Listing:
1) I-land Blues
2) Drom dig ivag
3) Tag dig sjalv i Kragen
4) Mammons Vagar
5) Kung Bore (Besegrad)
6) Vagskal
7) Dar Hemma
8) Sag mig hur
9) Den tiden ar Forbi
10) Forbannad Igen

Added: December 10th 2008
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's MySpace Page
Hits: 3023
Language: english

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