Swedish rockers return with melodic second album
So far, Arbogast are defying the inevitable pigeonholing that every band must go through. They’re a band, but more of a solo project for multi-instrumentalist Svante Widerström. ‘Certainties and Doubts’ is their second album after ‘Too Proud To Stick To Winners’, but you couldn’t tell. It’s a curious mixture of independence from the constraints of fashion and a determination to forge something meaningful with guitars and drums. And it’s likely to divide opinion seriously.
On one hand, you have another strong voice to add to the true rock revival that’s happening to Classic Rock recently. ‘Certainties…’ is a stripped, back-to-basics album full of croaky, heartfelt vocals and some stunning guitar solos. The whole feel is immediate, dirty, and beat-heavy. And they wear their (many) influences on their sleeves: from the Stones to Alice Cooper to REM. It’s all good stompy hard rock, with the standard second-album angst that allows quieter lighters-in-the-air moments like ‘Stay Up and Talk To Me All Night’ to creep in. The jangling melody of ‘Steal Me Some Luck’ makes it the outstanding track on the album, closely followed by the Bowie-esque ‘Applause To You’. It’s just a shame that in comparison some other tracks sound half finished.
Comparing those tracks to the rest of the album highlights some of the issues Arbogast have. A lot of the songs sound the same. It’s inevitable, to a point, when you’re working with the same instruments and people all the time. But when tracks start merging together, around ‘Bitacora Club’, it’s a bad sign. The whole thing would have benefited from a cleaner recording, and bulking up the sound a bit more. Maybe even changing vocalists occasionally would help; Widerström has a quirky charm to his worn vocal style, but it doesn’t help the tracks stand apart from each other. On the face of it the lyrics are mixed-up and nonsensical, but even that imbues Arbogast with a quirky charm at times. Very hit-and-miss.
Some will love it, others will hate it. But chances are most will listen, like it, then instantly forget it. There’s none of the immediately catchy hooks or lyrics that make it an outstanding, must-hear effort. Which is a shame, because Arbogast clearly know their stuff, and have a passion for the sound. It’s good enough when you’re listening to it, with solid melodies and rocking attitude, but nothing screams “find this CD, and never let it go”.