Karmakanic – In A Perfect World (2011)

Jonas Reingold, taking a different course of actions from many of his peers has returned with his band, KARMAKANIC, to show that the Progressive rock ain’t and it shouldn’t be a series of show-offs and that the song-writing still holds a meaning in the genre. And for that, in his latest album ‘In A Perfect World’ he combines and fuses excellently, Art Rock of the mid 70’s, Jazz, Mambo(!), something from the synths so dominant in the Progressive of the 90’s and a spice of classic music.

The most striking and radio-friendly song here is ‘Can’t take it with you’ which opens with a Mambo tune and becomes kind of heavier in the process, with a Rap feeling at times, catchy, a song which is a pleasure to listen to. ‘1969’ brings to my mind the pink bubble of the late 60’s, people talking about revolution and flower power in order to become the greasy yappies in the 80’s. Musically speaking the Art rock is dominant in this song. It is not a song that would leave you with the impression of “never- heard-before” yet it is still impressive if not for any other reason but because it manages to have a cool basic theme melody, continuity, coherence and density. Actually all these elements are felt throughout the album.

Another one characteristic of the album is the use of syncopations and of the blue notes. To continue a bit about the songs, the last track, ‘When fear came to town’, is melodic with the acoustic guitar to add emphasis and emotion to the lyrics yet the addition of the synths in the first part of the song manages to spoil a part of it whilst in the second part things are counterbalanced by the Jazz and Pop feeling. The whole album proved to be a wonderful listening experience and renewed my faith in Progressive rock. Highly recommended album!

Tracklist

01. 1969 – 14:14
02. Turn it up – 6:53
03. The world is caving in – 8:58
04. Can’t take it with you – 5:42
05. There’s nothing wrong with the world – 7:22
06. Bite the grit – 4:57
07. When fear came to town – 9:55

Line-up

Jonas Reingold – Fretted and fretless bass/Backing vocals
Marcus Liliequist – Drums
Göran Edman – Vocals
Lalle Larsson – Keyboards/Backing vocals
Nils Erikson – Vocals/Keyboards
Krister Jonsson – Guitars

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