BLOMLJUD

This album was kind of last year's musical revelation to me, and it didn't take long to really get into what the band is doing. Which is, sort of, The Flower Kings with a slightly softer touch and an emphasis on harmony vocals that sometimes try to compete with established á cappella ensembles. Sweden has a few of those latter ones, but the combination of a symphonic progressive foundation and those frequent, almost angelic vocal excursions is not as common - to say the least. Often that makes Moon Safari seem like a born-again Yes with some additional tricks up their proverbial sleeves, and clearly a carved- out identity of their own. I started listening to their previous album around the time I was introduced to this one, which is better, more distinguished and elaborate. Personal favourites include "The Ghost of Flowers Past", the catchy three-minute folkpop-oriented "Lady of the Woodlands" (a lightweight, but nevertheless a gem) and of course the crown jewel itself: "Other Half of the Sky", half an hour indulging in all that progressive rock of this life-affirming variety can be. I wonder, though, how and when they will be able to follow up this album, and how much more of this calibre they can come up with in the future. Hopefully, a lot.