Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***
Spilld Mjölk is a curiousity that is
completely unknown to most but in high demand among collectors.
Privately released in 1975 on the band's own label, it is indeed
amateurish but in a good sense. Their acoustic blend of psychedelia
and folk-tinged music is oddly attracting, and might appeal to fans
of UK folk rockers Stone Angel and Danish avant folkies Furekaaben.
Lyrics are in Swedish and have a slight left wing touch. However, it
isn't necessary to grasp the lyrics to enjoy the album as the strange
mood of the music is the most striking thing about ”Svart mjölk”.
The underground sound has a spooky vibe that gets to you on a deeper
level.
The band members were pupils of Kalix
Folkhögskola where the album was primitively recorded during a week
in May 1975, but was founded in Luleå, a city in the Northern part
of Sweden, by multi-instrumentalists Tommy Skotte and Erik Ahlstrand.
Actually, almost all of the seven members play several instruments,
such as flute, violin, cello, sitar and saxophone apart from the
obvious guitars and percussion. None of them is a flashy player
however; their strength is the collective sound fuelled by twisted
improvisations and a dronelike flow, particularly prominent in the
sitar driven track ”Till döden skiljer oss åt” (which, by the
way, is not a cover of ”Norweigan Wood” as has been
claimed). But ”Svart mjölk” is a state of mind perfectly illustrated by the evocative album cover, as much as a
collection of distinct songs. Therefore, it's hard to pick any
particular song as a favourite; the album works best as a whole. Once
you get into it, it stays with you.
On the strength of the otherwordly mood
and the fact that it was privately released in an tiny
edition of 250 copies (distributed by Ahlstrand himself), ”Svart mjölk” has
become a much sought after item, especially since a part of the edition was destroyed in a basement flooding. If you ever come across a copy of
it, expect it to dig deep holes in your wallet.
Violinist and singer Lars Frykholm was
also a member of the huge Luleå based rock band Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng (all in all they had 37 members!). Tommy Skotte later
became the main man of Skottes Musikorkester who released two 45's in
the late 70's. Spilld Mjölk however is their most original effort,
and although a spiritual kinship with a few other international
bands, ”Spilld mjölk” is very much an entity of its own. Anyone
into 70's fringe folk should consider it a must-have, why a long overdue reissue is severely needed.
"Svart mjölk"
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