Pingvinorkestern - 2017 - Look, No Hands!

(50:54; Pingvinorkestern)

Track list:
1. Stay 0:56
2. Look, No Hands 3:58
3. Free Fall 4:25
4. Oj 3:56
5. Happy 1:51
6. Walk Slowly 5:52
7. Stora Moerdarbacken 4:03
8. Honk 3:14
9. If You're a Dreamer, Come In 6:14
10. Retour des Visite 2:55
11. Save Me 7:06
12. Likörcigarren 3:03
13. Leave 3:21

Line-up:
Susanne Johansson - vocals, violin, recorders, melodica, percussion, sound effects
Mats Fredriksson - vocals, guitars, xylophone, percussion, ukulele
Micke Wall - guitars, percussion, voice , glockenspiel, tubular bells, ukulele, bodhran
Stefan Dernbrant - vibes, xylophone, glockenspiel, flute, percussion, sound effects, jews harp, melodica
Shiny Mac - bass, saw, synth, percussion, vocals
with:
Lisa Morgen - french horn
Andi Almqvist - vocals
Haakan Rydlöv - bassoon
The Penguin Party Choir - vocals
Joakim Zetterqvist - violin
Maria Bergström - violin
Sigrid Kroeker - viola
Viktor Johannesson - cello


Prolusion.
Swedish band Pingvinorkestern appears to have been formed sometime around 2010, and from what I can see from their social media presence they were an active band right from the time when they started out with several live performances under their belt before they released their debut album "Push" back in 2014. They followed up this studio production with the self-released album "Look - No Hands!" in 2017, which is also the band's most recent album as of 2024.

Analysis.
It is a bit of a weird and off kilter album we get with this second outing by Pingvinorkerstern. It doesn't take all that long for the band to showcase an affection for the more complex and quirky varieties of 70s progressive rock for instance, showcased in the opening and concluding part of the title track 'Look - No Hands!', but while the band makes a fine job of flirting with this style of progressive rock in these brief instances they do not revisit this tradition in that specific manner on the compositions that follow.

Instead we get a plethora of material that include and explore and investigate the singer/songwriter tradition and inspirations from various kinds of folk music in straight forward and compelling as well as quirky and unusual but still appealing manners, where the latter tends to be the norm and the former the exception.

Gentler landscapes with a careful psychedelic vibe are just as much a presence here as creations that flirt with the French chanson tradition and blends aspects of progressive rock as well as jazz into these landscapes, and percussion experiments on top of an accordion used to provide drone-like textures have a natural place here just as much as songs with movement that gives associations towards the dance tradition waltz just as much as more fiery and dance traditions of a possibly Latin origin. Dramatic excursions that may or may not also include a nod to the Americana tradition can be found, but also gentler electric piano and vocals combinations with a symphonic backing that sounds like a lost relic from the 1960s sometime. With both dramatic and minimalist varieties of a stripped down singer/songwriter type of composition present too.

This is an unpredictable production that have folk music elements and the singer/songwriter tradition as core elements, but at least as I regard them they explore these tendencies in a more adventurous manner, creating material that exist somewhere on the border between experimental music, folk music and progressive rock. Music that is a bit zany and a bit off kilter, but material that also retain a compelling edge and an appealing sound and mode of delivery. Challenging music in a manner of speaking, but an album where the challenging aspects remain in the details to a much greater extent than being a dominant and defining aspect of the experience.

Conclusion.
This second and so far most recent studio production by Pingvinorkestern is an album that merits an interest in the singer/songwriter tradition as well as an interest in music inspired by folk music traditions to be of interest. The compositions use these elements as foundations from which they seek to go out and explore, and are fond of doing those excursions in a manner that is subtly off kilter and carefully unusual, adding in elements from the psychedelic music tradition as well as the classic era progressive rock tradition to these landscapes. With a slight presence of jazz and a little bit of an experimental edge. If music described as an accessible variety of challenging progressive folk music is a description that makes sense to you or that you find to be interesting, there is more than a fair chance that you will find the landscapes explored on this production to be a rewarding experience.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, July 2024

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/pingvinorkestern