Dungen – Skit I Allt

No, the title of this post wasn’t me sneezing violently upon the keyboard–Dungen (pronounced dun-yen) is a Swedish rock group with a vintage psychadelic twist sure to vädjar till din hörlurar, or, please your ears. Or, when translated from English to Swedish to English again, appeal to your headphones. It works any of the three ways, really.

I saw Dungen a year ago to the week, almost. I didn’t realize this earlier when I went looking for their site and checked out an extensive list of tour dates. Cool, I thought. They’re coming back to the Ottobar again–next week! Mmm, no so much. I was, in fact, looking at last year’s tour dates. Bummer. Still, it’s fitting that I would revisit them this time of year, and their latest album’s title track does not disappoint with its relaxed vintage-y beat. They even sneak a flute in there, classic rock style.

When I saw them in Baltimore last year, the lead singer, Gustav Ejstes (of course his name is Gustav), was pretty talkative, and he had the Hanson brothers hair thing going on. He and the rest of the band kept it energetic yet reserved, and the poppy tunes were a nice surprise as a then first-time listener. I honestly did not realize he wasn’t singing in English the whole time. Call me unobservant. I call it music breaking language barriers.