01 June 2021

NEON HEART – Temporaria (2021, LP Adansonia Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Adansonia Records

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Yellow Black Dust Vinyl, Hand-numbered, 100 copies

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Black Vinyl, 180g, Hand-numbered, 200 copies

Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition, 200 copies (Self-Released by the Band)

Release Date: 29 March 2021

Neon Heart is a NEW psychedelic krauty impro group, based in Stockholm, Sweden and if I’m not mistaken, after their debut self-titled “Neon Heart” released last year, this is the follow-up, entitled “Temporaria” and released through Germany label Adansonia Records.

Neon Heart is: Magnus Nordén (drums), Johnny Karlsson Kern (bass, vox), Björn Wallgren (guitar), Petter Kärnekull (electronic viola), and Daniel Borgegård Älgå (saxophone).

This is the way that Adansonia presents the band:

“Neon Heart is a psychedelic Kraut impro group based in Stockholm, Sweden. Although firmly rooted in the Krautrock tradition of the 70s, Neon Heart crosses musical boundaries, exploring, blending, and improvising to arrive at its very own contemporary sound. On its latest release, “temporaria”, the band presents seven collective creations where Kraut overlaps with jazz and experimental. This Swedish quintet is certainly among the most innovative and unique representatives of Krautrock today”…

“Temporaria” contains 7 songs, clock ticking from 4 to 9 minutes. The opener “Somna Bort” has an addictive killer “bass” rhythm while almost from the start the voice of the singer makes an impression… The band presents an experimental avant-garde mix of Everything-Post (Post Art Rock, Post Punk, Post Prog…) while the Sax adds a perverted jazzy aspect to the tune, and all this scenery over here strongly reminds me of moments from The Far Cry’s album, 1968… On “Vi Behöver” the band develops a futuristic over-psyched Krauty musical environment, diving deeper into the darkness… “Alltid Leva Med” has a really psychotic background with a controlled Avant-psych atmos, an experimental let-loose Sax with a distorted funky mood, unique! “One Of These Days” is a rockier tune, blending funk and jazz elements with a free-form attitude to experiment, a rather dynamic instrumental tune that someone may call Neokraut or something… By now the band has developed a particular personal style that is more than obvious on “Som En Sanning”, it’s hard to categorize the Sound, but you can call it an experimental fusion-like Psyched-Art-Rock… “Vi Får Väl Se” is a slower number, a distorted ballad, insanely let-loose, a weird idiosyncratic tune… The album closes with “Slå Dig Ner”, and for the first time, the listener can happily recognize a musical style (aha!), an unadulterated one! This is Neo-Kraut, dynamic and full of energy. An unbelievable Psych Beat, a demented rhythm, sporadic spacey effects, and a killer avant-garde Sax sound are completing the puzzle, an astonishing mutated Krauty Rock anthem of the 21^st century… “Temporaria” is a very demanding album, there’s no easy-listening here, but the usual ‘suspects’ will love it! You know who you are and what to do… TimeLord Michalis