HUSMODERNS BRÖST – Där fruarna bor (Amalthea, 1979)

Swedish vocals, instrumental

International relevance: **

At a first glance, this looks just like your standard feminist pamphlet, but it's a lot better executed than most of the albums in that field. Vocals are way better, and the jazziness sometimes suggests inspiration coming from Joni Mitchell's elastic vocalisms.

Malmö's Husmoderns Bröst were formed as an instrumental combo already in 1974, and by the time their first and only album ”Där fruarna bor” (”where the wives live”) came out in 1979, they sure had gained their chops. The album displays tight and versatile playing, and just like the vocals it has some jazzy edges that thankfully never strays into fullblown fusion. The songs cover a lot of ground, ranging from the Latin moves of ”Samba allergi” and ”Kork o plast” to the semi-reggae of ”Husmoderns affär”, from the disco allusions of ”Husmoderns disk-o-bänk” to the Steely Dan-ish slickness of ”Husmoderns vals” (which despite the slickness stands out as the collection's best track).

While it is nice to hear an album once in a while where the players actually can play good enough to get their point across musically, I have to say that ”Där fruarna bor” is a bit too clinical. It was released in 1979, at the tail end of the progg era, and as confirmed by several albums from around the same time, the heart and soul of the Movement had pretty much gone out of it and become something different and not necessarily better. ”Där fruarna bor” is an OK album, but comes off as a bit pedantic at times, and while it has its moments songwise, I'm left with an unsatisfied feeling once its over. It's a lot more accomplished than (the more entertaining) Röda Bönor and a lot more gratifying than, say, ”Tjejclown”, but it simply goes a bit too far into the realms of perfection to engage.

Husmoderns Bröst also appear on Silence album ”Bara brudar”, as well as ”Min søsters stemme” on Danish label Demos, both albums released in 1978 and recorded live at feminist music festivals. They disbanded in 1980, with their most prolific songwriter Maria Lundström continuing in music, releasing several solo albums from the 80's and on.

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