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Review:
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Fourteen years, five studio albums, and two live albums
would be an impressive resumé for any progressive rock band.
For Karmakanic, the Swedish prog act pioneered by Flower
Kings’ bassist, Jonas Reingold, this repertoire is especially
notable, largely because of the band’s relative anonymity.
Karmakanic aren’t unknown by any stretch of the imagination,
but they certainly aren’t discussed in prog circles nearly
as much as they probably should be. With DOT, the band’s
fifth studio release, Karmakanic expand their sound once
again, demonstrating through virtuosity, creativity, and
stellar production that anyone who has not yet heard of
them is ultimately missing out. While Who’s the Boss in
the Factory? (2008) and In a Perfect World (2011) still
maintained a somewhat dutiful, symphonic Flower Kings mentality,
DOT trends in a different direction, emphasizing more driving
guitar and some heavier metal elements, as well as a focus
on songwriting – even within the multi-movement epic, “God,
Pt. I.” Released 22 July, DOT is the band’s most accomplished
piece of writing to date – a new apex for a project that
is truly more concerned with writing music than pumping
out records.***
Karmakanic’s material has considerable innate strength
from the mature writing of Jonas Reingold, an ability that
truly began to blossom with In a Perfect World and has reached
a new level of clarity and ambition in DOT. Afforded the
luxury of time, and insisting on in-person collaboration
with band members, Jonas has facilitated a hands-on atmosphere
in which the musical foundations he lays become the springboards
for each member of the project to contribute both ideas
and personality. With blueprints in place, the other members
are able to listen ahead of time, rehearse, try out their
own ideas, and then – when their schedules allow – join
Jonas in the studio to begin putting all the pieces together.***
The project’s 2016 iteration remains virtually intact
from the recording of In a Perfect World, this time with
only a change to their dedicated percussionist. Helmed by
Jonas (bass, guitars, keys, vocals), Karmakanic’s core remains
Göran Edman (lead vocals), Lalle Larsson (keys, vocals),
Krister Jonsson (guitars), and Nils Erikson (lead vocals),
now joined by Grammy-winning musician Morgan Ågren of Mats/Morgan
Band on the kit. Guest musicians on the record – some of
whom have also featured on previous releases as well – include
Andy Tillison of The Tangent (Hammond organs), Andy Bartosh
(guitars), and Ray Aichinger (saxophone, flute), as well
as Christine Lenk, Alex Reingold, and Norah Reingold as
guest vocalists.***
The album opens with the static ambiance of “Dot,”
an uncertain introduction that lasts for the space of a
minute. More than an ambiguous placeholder, this piece references
the moment from 1990 when Voyager 1 photographed the earth
from the outer reaches of our solar system, inspiring Carl
Sagan to fatefully describe our world as a mere “pale blue
dot suspended in a sunbeam.” Sagan’s writings – not to mention
the image itself – strongly juxtaposed man’s insignificance
with his vivacity, transcribing mankind’s existential debate:
forced to acknowledge our own infinitesimal mark on the
universe, we yet remain unable to surrender our innate sense
of supreme worth. DOT’s symphonic grandeur truly kicks in
with the lush opening chords of “God, The Universe, and
Everything Else No One Really Cares About, Pt I”, the first
of a pair of bookending pieces. This 23-minute epic moves
through several sections: ballad, a child chorus, extended
instrumental, and Riverside-esque grind. Inspired by Sagan’s
writing, Reingold composed this piece around the notion
that “this little dot is all we are and all we’ll ever be.”
His lyrics raise the somewhat rhetorical question of whether
or not it’s worth “fighting over country borders, go[ing]
to war, choos[ing] hate instead of love when you look at
life from this perspective.” “God, Pts I & II” together
comprise DOT’s central thematic content, emphasizing the
incomprehensible vastness of the universe in strong contrast
to the microscopic proportions of human existence. As Pt
I’s closing lyrics aptly summarize: “We’re all yet nothing
/ We’re all yet nothing.”***
“Higher Ground” is an autobiographical piece that Jonas
wrote about his upbringing in a small Swedish town, voiced
by Erikson for the album. There is plenty of self-searching
in this composition, wondering whether or not the quest
for the proverbial “higher ground” is a worthy pursuit,
and whether or not freedom is actually obtainable. In the
light of the album’s grander scope, these questions seem
even weightier. “Steer By the Stars” is bright and pop-oriented
– a “single” among its proggier peers – stacking layers
of interwoven, harmonic vocal parts over an uptempo groove
and warbling organ. Jonas co-wrote this tune with Andy Tillison,
whom he lovingly termed a “punk from Northern England.”***
If there is one piece on the album that truly points
to classic, symphonic prog, it’s “Traveling Minds” a song
with a healthy blend of YES and Flower Kings vibes, with
a good measure of balladic Pain of Salvation as well. Acoustic
guitar, piano, and fretless bass lead set the stage, then
transition into soaring guitar with Jon Anderson’s brand
of atmospheric lyrics. To conclude the album, “God, pt II”
enters on the lingering, orchestral heels of the previous
track, and features some more extended sections of bass
lead. Its rhythmically loose, soaring conclusion is enormous
and suitably grandiose, though its final passage is an isolated
piano trilling the mournful refrain into silence.***
DOT is one of those albums that – with its lighthearted,
melodic emphases – seems deceptively simple upon first listen.
I’ll confess that it didn’t immediately grab me, but instead
began to resonate with each successive spin in the stereo.
After sitting with the record for more than a month, I am
still impressed with its endemic richness, depth, and inventive
character. There isn’t any unnecessary repetition or unstructured
space to condemn. Refrains are anthemic; themes are memorable;
the philosophy is huge, big enough for anyone to seize a
piece and plant a flag. This is a record to savor: it manages
to be easy to listen to without being “easy listening,”
delves into musical inventiveness without being abrasive
or jarring, and conceals its deeper strengths in good songwriting,
only revealing its many facets with successive listens.***
The
Prog Mind
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