When we released our debut album we had no idea of what people would think about it. As a matter of fact, it was somewhat of a surprise to us that people were actually having thoughts about it at all. Luckily, it got very good press and for that reason we were pretty curious about how the new one would be received. We have probably read most of the reviews for DHH by now (new ones are still coming in every week from all kinds of expected and unexpected places) and we are doing our best to understand them all, or at least Google Translate is helping us with that in a not always very trustworthy way.
We have been a little lazy with quoting the reviews this time but we thought that it might be a good idea bringing a few of the English reviews together, so here we go:
“Someone once said that if Samla Mammas Manna started their life in the 00s, they might have sounded somewhat like this, and that’s a pretty good reference point. Excellent.“
- Wayside Music
“The music is a powerful rolling machine trading off gorgeous melodies played up against startlingly dissonant passages…If you are a fan of Scandinavian prog Gosta Berlings Saga will find a very comfortable place in your music listening. That said the music crafted on Detta Har Hant really should find a much wider audience of prog music fans given its exceptional crossover potential. For my ears, this is wonderful stuff, upbeat and yet retaining that precious melancholy approach we’ve come to love about the Scandinavian prog bands. All in all I’d say this is a real winner“
- Jerry Lucky
“This is another album that left me in awe. I kid you not. No chance I am exaggerating. Detta Har Hänt, is the astonishing second album of Swedish quartet Gösta Berlings Saga. After listening to this beautiful piece of work, I had only one question, where do they breed this people? Is this much talent a matter of luck, hard work, or the results of arts friendly governments? I read somewhere that in Sweden, the government offers a great deal of support to musicians. If so, these may just be the results. But this is not only what happens when sweat and practice meet, but of musicians exercising their right to express themselves freely. No boundaries, no strings attached. Laissez-faire-muthafuckas! In occasions, while listening to it, I thought of Radiohead and how for the past ten years or so, they’ve been trying to make music as bold as this. Transubstans says, ‘the songs range from full-blown epic soundscapes via dissonant darkness to minimalistic powerful grooves without compromising when it comes to the strong melodies’. Ok, that was a bit convoluted, but is right on. This is hypnotic, robotic, thankfully long and yet somehow, so damn soulful. Also, I haven’t heard a Fender Rhodes being played like this since like forever. I volunteer this album for album of the decade. It doesn’t get better than this.“
- Deaf Sparrow
The melodies have a way of creeping into your subconscious and remaining there long after you’ve listened to the last notes. The darker, bleaker elements merely act as a contrast to the band’s more uplifting passages. One of my top 5 releases from 2009. Highly recommended. (4,5 / 5)
- Sea Of Tranquility
I was tired that day, annoyed at everything that didn’t work. A long period of frustration this has been and few things have managed to comfort me. Staying late at work, I put on my headphones and started to scroll through my music player to see what can I possibly listen to. I then stopped at Gosta Berlings Saga. I had just gotten their new album a week before and have only listened to it once and did not remember it well enough. So I decided to play it again, thinking to myself that it might help me engage my brain for the tasks ahead.
I was wrong.
Not wrong about engaging my mind, but wrong about being productive.
Wrong, because for some reason, the moment I put the music on, I was hooked.
Wrong because I did not devote another minute of my time that night for work anymore and only concentrated on the music.
I have since listened to it many times, and it is still as captivating and magical as it was the first time, only now with the advantage of knowing the pieces. So it was not just my special mood that night that has permitted my impressionable mind to be that affected by this album. This is genuine love of this album.
What is it that has such a spell on me in their music? Is it the richness of sound? Is it the wonderful musicianship? Is it the beautiful melodies? Is it the wonderful way they develop their themes? Is it their way to make instrumental music that seem to not require words? Could it be their mingling of elements and styles into a sound of their own? Their crafting of a varied, dynamic and flowing album that sounds subdued and mellow one minute and then fiery and fierce the next?
Before answering these,
Listen to the bass lines such as those that hook you like a fish on a hook in Sorterargatan 3; to the magnificent drum work in each song that hit you at times softly and at others hammer you to your place; to the wonderful keyboards work (and there are plenty of keyboards used here, it’s a real heaven) that like a magic wand, adds marvelous majestic streaks of beauty and bliss; to the guitar work that shift between a raunchy sound to a delicate sweep of fingers. This album, aside from the music on it, is a delight to listen to in this aspect. But then, without gripping music, it would end just there. And here I find myself at odds to describe it: there are elements of fusion as well as occasional use of electronic effects; there are pieces which have repetitive instrumental patterns, developed with added layers of instrumentation and additional musical lines, epic in nature. The pieces differ in quite a lot in rhythm and style even, yet there is a binding spirit to them all, a unifying character. It is hard for me to translate the music and its magic to words here, but I can say this is progressive rock that runs through several emotional fields and manages to use its influences as a stepping board and not as a leaning board. Go listen to them on their website and myspace, at least give it a try. A truly wonderful album! A gem that I personally cherish and highly recommend. (4 / 5)- Prog Archives
“Detta Har Hänt” is one of those albums that were needed in progressive rock (9 / 10)
- Manticornio
The album is (thankfully) not an ironed smooth Retroprog album off the shelf, but edgy and authentic in every second of the good 50 minutes running time. (4 / 5)
- Schallplattenmann
After the confrontation with nature on the first album, this applies to a multi-faceted approach to the state of cities, industrialization, and to love. Endless questions, many answers. For example, on the question of whether progressive rock after 40 years still can be innovative. And only one possible answer: Yes, yes, yes, many times, yes!
- Nordische Musik
This album is full of beautiful atmosphere and is very accurate in the construction of the sound mixture that never appear glossy nor ostentatious, with incursions of psychedelia, space rock, folk and even electronics, with many new details that emerge on which linger listen after listen.
- Arlequins
While allowing some small excursus in experimental electronica, this album succeeds in offering exciting instrumental rock from end to end. (8 / 10)
- Progressia
Detta Har Hant is brave, exciting, dynamic, imaginative, and individual. All of that is topped off with some excellent musicianship.
- Eurorock
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