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"While Dungen is an incredible live band, it might be more accurately described as the solo project of Gustav Ejstes. Ejstes plays most of the instruments on Dungen's albums--which include flute, sitar, organ, fiddle--with band members sometimes sitting in on guitar, bass and drums. Dungen's singer is a serious student of Swedish folk, but his guiding light for Dungen is the acid rock of Jimi Hendrix and Cream. Dungen's music has matured into an ultra-sophisticated take on psych-rock. Ejstes insists on singing in Swedish, but he's coolly passionate enough that it sounds like he's chanting magic between mountains of guitar. Ejstes's performances are shockingly precise, and the rock is always right on the numbers. He also loves vintage recording techniques, and applies just the right blend of analog era sonics and digital clarity. This might be stoner rock for some, but the space jams have been largely edited out, and there's hardly a sludgy moment that doesn't have a purpose." John Dugan
"Dungen makes music that feels recently submerged from a dusty analog reel discovered in a rural Swedish basement, glowing with a red-eyed and drugged haze, spray-blasted with brightness. It isn’t the sort of artistic statement that promises to change anyone’s life, but it’s no less a great work of escapist art, the sort of essential record I’d pick for any hypothetical list of desert island necessities. It’s an album that you can loop endlessly, letting you sink into a brighter world, one far removed from the Biff Tannens of everyday existence. With summer drawing near, it’s the perfect thing to play loudly, with a pair of good strong headphones. Let it split your skull and take you to a different time."
Jeff Weiss
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