ELEGI – Elegi (Slick, 1981)

Swedish vocals
International relevance **

Some things just take a long time. I'll be honest with you and admit that I couldn't stand Elegi for a long time. Their sole, self-titled album sounded contrived and hysterical to my ears. But the more reference points I earned over the years by a persistent-bordering-on-pathological listening, the more Elegi made sense.

Elegi was just about the perfect band for the Musiklaget Slick label, an imprint that grew out of Musiklaget (known for releasing Solen Skiner, Ragnar Borgedahl and others) that in turn started as Tibet -46 (with Rolf Wikström and John Holm on its tiny roster). Slick had a penchant for leftfield acts such as synth punk band Ståålfågel, semi-controversial punk outfit Bitch Boys, ska rockers Stormakt Gul and post-progg acts like Mögel. Elegi fit well into that lot, with their music successfully blending Rock In Opposition (RIO) characteristics with then current post punk experimentation and moods. They're a lot more consistent and solid than label-mates Mögel for instance, for the simple reason that Elegi knew what they wanted to achieve and also had the chops to pull it off successfully to the point.

There are two things that more than anything defines Elegi's sound, and it's Marie Samuelsson's vocals and Susanne Håkansson's saxophone (a rare feature in rock bands in those days, despite X-Ray Spex's prominent use of the instrument). The sax adds a very distinct texture to the music as it's not exclusively used for solos but a well integrated part of the arrangements, pretty much the way other bands use the guitar. The vocals are likely to be the biggest bone of contention, and it's the thing about Elegi that I still have some problems with. I suppose Samuelsson tried to match the nervy backing of ”Mat” (a stone-cold classic!), ”Moderna kvadrater” and ”Galen”, but they go off the deep end a little bit too often with neurotic yelps and hiccups. But you have to take the bad with the good and endure the wayward vocals as the album as a whole is well worth it. ”Elegi” stands out as one of the most original efforts of its time, a tour de force unafraid to prove that assumably conflictive styles are in fact very easy to combine if you only have the imagination, the will and the skills to do it. This is one of the Swedish progg punk's finest moments.

If you want to go further you can check out the two Elegi tracks found on the ”Mun mot mun metoden” cassette on Slick from 1982, and also check out their unreleased live recording for the Tonkraft radio show in 1980. None of them is quite as sharp as ”Elegi”, but they are still worthy of investigation if you like the album.

It's also worth mentioning that Marie Samuelsson had a thorough musical education and later became a noted modern composer. As late as of November 2023, she received the prestigious Christ Johanson award by the Swedish Royal Academy of Music.

Full album playlist