When I first heard Swedish psych outfit Dungen via the 2004 international breakthrough album Ta Det Lugnt, Gustav Ejstes' lyrics could've been as dopey as Neil Diamond's "Porcupine Pie" for all I knew. Turns out they weren't, really, but for someone who doesn't comprehend Swedish that's simply a safety net. The important thing was Ejstes' voice-- a rich, multitracked sharp/sweet melodic hum which could be non-contradictorily described as a "beautiful whine." Nobody else in rock sounds like him, and since he's clearly aware of the multilingual nature of his audience-- especially as a musician with an international rolodex of influences and interests himself-- he puts a strong focus on the purely musical aspect of his voice. Understand Swedish, and you get the full meaning; if you don't, you still get caught up in the striking way he draws out all those unfamiliar syllables.
Yet that voice had become familiar by 2007's Tio Bitar-- enough that it was easier to catch your breath and cast a slightly more jaded ear towards the formula churning away: bucolic Scandinavian folk, fuzzed-out psych, a bit of bop-jazz elasticity, lots of Keith Moon-ish drum fills, and ringing piano chords. Even then, going from sounding revelatory to sounding reliable isn't exactly falling off, and the music still made it hard to believe that it was put together largely by Ejstes alone in a multi-instrumentalist, producer-assembled capacity informed as much by Pete Rock as Pete Townshend.
4 follows Tio Bitar, and while it's clear Ejstes has grown comfortable without getting complacent, he's managed to shake things up for the better this time around. Most notably, there's been a subtle shift to the group's dynamic-- and it is a group this time around. As much as Ejstes' one-man operation's been played up, there's a greater role for other musicians on 4, as Gustav opts to focus primarily on vocals and piano; Reine Fiske reprises his Tio Bitar role providing most of the lead guitar spark, Johan Holmegard takes over behind the drum kit, and touring-band member Mattias Gustavsson holds bass duties. 4 shows this permutation of Dungen to maintain the kind of tautness previous albums have thrived on, the end result of a touring unit assembled and honed to ideally recreate the careful constructions of a stylistically restless auteur in a live setting.
The resulting lineup has come up with a tighter, more focused, and more compact record than Tio Bitar (10 songs, 38 minutes, no songs over five minutes) that still finds a way to touch on all of Dungen's sonic tendencies in lively, unpredictable fashion. Moments of mournfully wailing acid-rock beauty (the violin-tinged opener "Sätt Att Se") give way to gentler strains of classically influenced pop ("Målerås Finest"). The loose-fingered, high-speed freakout of "Samtidigt 1" is joined in progress right after the fluttering pastoralism of "Det Tar Tid"; its partner "Samtidigt 2"-- culled from the same full-band jam session-- soars into some kind of Deadhead exosphere only to dissipate into the soft piano/chime/flute melodies of "Bandhagen" (and its not-so-soft drumbeat-- like every other Dungen record, 4 is a percussive monster). And sometimes the contrasts build over the course of a single song, like when the jaunty Zombies/Kinks march-beat of "Finns Det Någon Möjlighet" eventually shifts from lighthearted, piano-driven frolic to a feedback-drenched trudge through creeping dread.
And since the music has a renewed surprise to it, that voice does, too. Even though 4 has a greater emphasis on instrumental compositions that don't suffer much from the absence of Ejstes' vocals, it's a bit of a disappointment that they only show up in half the songs. Especially considering that they're a fine melodic accompaniment to just about anything the musicians are capable of-- crooning Byrds-inflected self-harmonies over the minimalist Motown groove of "Ingenting År Sig Likt", for instance, or keening through the Turkish-influenced stomp of "Mina Damer Och Fasaner". But even if that voice's an incredible instrument, it's just one piece of what's become an intricate structure.
