Life on Earth! - "Look!! There is Life on Earth!"

Life on Earth! - Life on Earth (Subliminal Sounds 2007)

Life on Earth! – Look!! There is Life on Earth! / Subliminal Sounds

“The basic idea is to make music that celebrates the incredible and absolutely wonderful phenomenon of life on Earth, hoping to spread some joy to any possible listeners… Why not simply enjoy it, until the day we die? So lay all your worry aside now. Don’t hesitate; let your dreams sweep you away… Wonder at the beauty of nature; listen to how it invites you among beech trees and squirrels. Embrace it, because he and she and it and we are all connected to you and you are just like everything else, constantly changing into wondrous beings yet unseen. We can’t avoid this, it is the sensation of life. We should know by now, but it doesn’t really matter, what’s real is real, what ever we know. In the end, any little drop of water dripping down into your mouth comes from the surface of this planet, just like any little glimpse of knowledge popping up inside your head is born within your frameworks for believing, and just like any little sound you make or any single letter you draw, it is meaningless without context or connections, but then how to sing or how to write I can’t tell, instead, you might watch the life on Earth for inspiration.”

As uplifting and utopian as Mattias Gustavsson’s outlook on his solo project outside Dungen, Life on Earth!, might be, you can’t help but think he is lost in a late 60s flower-power state of mind. Not necessarily a bad thing by any means and human interaction indeed would be more pleasant if we were all stumbling around on the same unabashedly optimistic mind plateau, but most of us are lost in the valley of reality and cynical paranoia as a way of life. No worries though, Gustavsson has rounded up a few friends for a globetrotting trip in the 21st century’s version of the Yellow Submarine. So if you are amongst the valley dwellers seeking a deep breath of fresh air, hop aboard, strap yourself in, crank the headphones and get ready for a trip of swirling summertime folk-pop psychedelia that guarantees such spiritual uplifting.

Gustavsson’s day job of supporting Gustav Ejstes’s psyche-rock escapades in Dungen certainly ruins some of the surprise, because Life on Earth! definitely exists on a similar musical plane but with all the hard rock influences left at home. Where Dungen evokes such comparative hybrids as The Who-meets-Love or Blue Cheer-meets-Jefferson Airplane, Life on Earth! mostly scraps the harder-edged half for more proggish acts such as the softer sides of Can or King Crimson. Sure there are a few wailing guitar solos, most likely thanks to Ejstes and the rest of Dungen’s members contributing as well as the help of sister Scandinavian psyche-rock outfit The Works, but Gustavsson seems more interested in exploring the possibilities of a pop song. Along with the rampant psychedelia, pop and folk butterflies circling this sunny pasture of an album, rays of chamber-jazz and Latin music come shining down on frequent occasion. The chamber-jazz I get, immensely talented Town & Country members Josh Abrams and Ben Vida contribute bass and guitar respectively, but the Latin influence leaves me at a bit of a loss. Don’t get me wrong though, there is nothing I like better than a little shaker-conga rhythm to really bring the psyche-pop home, I am just curious where it comes from. Either way, Look!! There is Life on Earth! is a hell of an enjoyable album and the prime summertime listen.

The opening title track pretty much sums up the entire album in six minutes. A growling flute solo mixing the intensity of a Rahsaan Roland Kirk song with a Tito Puente melody introduces the track, which grooves on a multiple conga-rhythm, acoustic guitar strum, buoyant bass line and Gustavsson’s unhurried vocals that are very similar to Ejstes’s. At the half way mark though, where a Dungen song would up the ante with a few ripping electric guitar solos, the song deconstructs in a very prog-like manner with feedbacking sitar followed by more flute, more grooving… oh, and there is the electric guitar solo. Hells yeah. Most of the album skips along on a hazy, unhurried tempo though like the Donovan-meets-Ravi Shankar “Sell Your Soul to Me,” the Beatles-meets-King Crimson “You Are There,” or the very Gil Gilberto-influenced “After a Few Years We Settled Down, Got Kids and Bought Our First Car.” And just in case you felt there just wasn’t enough prog to go around, Gustavsson tagged on a nearly thirty minute jam of minimal tone experimentation.

I feel bad continuously referring to Dungen to describe the sound of Life on Earth!, because I am sure Gustavsson is trying to pull away from its shadow with his own project, but the similarities are just too apparent. This is not a bad thing by any means though; both bands are excellent and should certainly share a heavily overlapping fan base. And if you wanted to get into Dungen, but just couldn’t get down with the 70s hard rock aspect of it, look no further, your prayers have been answered. If there was ever a soundtrack for summertime cross-country driving, Look!! There is Life on Earth! is it. Because hey, Gustavsson’s right, life is completely fascinating and inspirational. I certainly wouldn’t be the same without it.