Karmakanic - In A Perfect World

Year of Release: 2011
Label: InsideOut
Catalog Number: 0556-2
Format: CD
Total Time: 62:47:00

In Spring 2012, my playlist was comprised of artists who were to play RosFest that year, including Karmakanic's then fairly new release In A Perfect World. I had also moved; while absolutely necessary, it happened at a time where other aspects of my life changed* ... such that for the most part, the CDs in the queue today are the same CDs that were in the queue then.

I mention this not to explain my absence from my own website, but because I think music resonates with us best when it's supposed to. You may have listened to a song or album and think "yeh, that's ok, I like that" (or "I hate that," as the case may be). But when one's life and the music become symbiotic, that's when one really "gets" what the artist is saying. Sometimes that might be right then and there on that first listen ... or it may be some time later. For me it's a little of both, but I'm at a particular moment in my life where I keep thinking "in a perfect world..." and yet, that "perfect world" remains elusive.

Not to make you, dear reader, my therapist, I just point out that my approach to listening to this CD today is far different than it was even a year ago - a lot has happened that has changed my view of the world and of people. And maybe I "get" this CD a bit more than I would have in 2012. Of course, I have also been playing this CD a lot over that time and thus perhaps I am now "too close" to it to review it objectively.

I just love the whole sound of this CD (even the brief forays into cookie-monster vocals in "Can't Take It With You"). Gøran Edman is in fine voice here. Actually, I think everyone is "on" for this recording. Even if they weren't in the studio at the same time, you can hear enjoyment in the recording. Where the band share their various musical chops the most is most of the way through "There's Nothing Wrong With The World," an epic instrumental interlude that starts with searing guitar leads from Krister Janssen.

However, I don't really think of this album as progressive rock in the traditional sense - certainly in arrangements and complexity, one could argue; even at the lowest level, by reputation, past work and players involved, but it's so very accessible that you could play it for your non-prog loving friends/family and they would enjoy listening.

Perhaps the most accessible and most "pop" song on here is "Turn It Up"... it's a catchy, sing-a-long-able track that is musically very upbeat (overall, but also literally, as each end beat is "up") in part due to the tinkling keys. The band/label must have thought so; the radio edit is a bonus track. I say "pop," but I mean more the pop of the past, when Top 40 radio stations played everything - country, rock, hard rock, jazz (or at least pop-jazz), etc. If it was topping charts, it was played. Does Top 40 even exist anymore? I have been listening to a lot of 70s music of late on satellite radio, where disco might be followed by hard rock, followed by folk rock-- an eclectic mix.

"Can't Take It With You" is a macabre tango, juxtaposing tinkling piano-like keyboards and light percussion against the darker, guttural tones of the drums (like kettle drums) and vocals. I liken it to the band, collectively, using you as a floor to ungently tap dance upon. The lyrics bring to mind the play "Everyman," a 15th C. work attributed "anonymous" (how fitting), that posits that you cannot take with you to the afterlife all your acquired wealth and possessions, just your good works (what you do/give, not what you get). Here in this song though, it is a cynical look at the times we live in - greed, especially, in light of the Madoffs (how apt a name?) and Wall Street, etc. No political diversion on my part here, but this is a running theme throughout the album (as with "There's Nothing Wrong...") - the album title itself is not meant wholly positive. We all say "in a perfect world..." some such thing would be the case - in a perfect world leaders of our nations would be honest, investors wouldn't cheat others or the system. I have said that a time or two in my own world...

There is always this impression that the past is better than the present, that "back then" things were easier. This is theme of the opening track "1969." The summer of love was ending; change was in the air, a perception of peace and love amongst all peoples... But that is not what the 70s brought and that is also the song is about. I was just a young'un in the 70s; only 3 years old when the decade began. My experience of the early 70s was that of that carefree child who didn't think at all about politics, war and oil crises. (Oh, how I would like to be that age again!).

Of the album's tracks, "1969" is the most prog like - lengthy (at 14-plus minutes), epic (sweet, but somewhat muted guitars herald the instrumental opening, everything else expansive), multiple movements/tempos within the track, etc., atypical arrangements... In fact, you'd expect that a song that was reminiscing about the promise of "1969" would sound more like music of "1969," but Karmakanic don't overplay that. It's a modern sounding track - even as you could imagine Yes composing this track. Edman doesn't sound like Anderson, or anything, but there is a richness in the arrangements that is similar to Yes (circa maybe "Roundabout," "All Good People," etc.). There are darker tonal qualities - such as during the guitar solo halfway in - that are not Yes-like. And let's not really focus too much on that thought anyway. Perhaps because of past associations, I also think of The Flower Kings. These extending epics are part and parcel of The Flower Kings - and given that bassist Jonas Reingold is a member of both, this is either just something that rubbed off or inherent in Reingold's participation with both (here he composed and produced, so... it's his voice here for sure).

"When The World Is Caving In" starts out as a stark ballad, before it kicks into a different, heavier gear, with grinding guitars, crashing drums... and for the chorus, shifts again to something hinting at a hymnal/gospel, but not quite. Not that it misses the mark, just that it doesn't go there but for a hint. Of course, there is a religious reference to be made in the chorus - "will I ever reach the river / to wash away my sin..." When we let our vices get the better of us - when all goes to hell -- and we realize the cost, how do we get back? How do we turn it around? Or, perhaps more cynically, how to find someone or something to absolve us of our sins? Since I got personal above, I should say, no, I'm not referencing myself now.

I mentioned already "There's Nothing Wrong..." it continues the cynical look at the world, a "sure, nothing's wrong, just this, that, and the other thing. It's all just hunky dory." A poke at those, maybe, who deny climate change? If not directly, then indirectly by inference. The truthiness of our politicians (globally, not just in one nation or another) which is not high on the "truth" content. Like "Can't Take It With You," it is as catchy as a pop song, but don't be put off because I don't mean empty-headed pop for the lack of something to say. Smart pop, that draws you in with infectious instrumentation, then gives you the wink because it's smarter than you think. Subversive, in a way.

The album closes with the acoustic ballad - or mellow folk rock, if you will - "When Fear Came To Town," - acoustic guitar, moody electric bass, and Goran's vocals a featured. I thought a bit of James Taylor and Kenny Loggins (Loggins of "Celebrate Me Home" not "Danger Zone," naturally). You will read in the lyrics thoughts of ... well, Columbine, Aurora, Sandy Hook Elementary, Boston Marathon bombings... all these comparatively smaller acts of violence (compared to "9/11") that change the tone and tenor of a community, that shake up a small town. It puts everyone on edge because it could happen anywhere, at any time. Will something set off your co-worker? Your ex?

So after listening to this CD off and on for the past two years, now nearing three, I still like as much if not more than when I first played it. Dark and cynical in theme, the actual listening to it is a very positive experience.

(There is a bonus video track that I could not get to play).

*not that details are necessary, it wasn't a breakup or divorce, nothing that dramatic - just work commitments changed/increased, new people coming into my life, etc.


Tracklisting:
1969 (14:13) / Turn It Up (6:53) / When The World Is Caving In (8:59) / Can't Take It With You (5:43) / There's Nothing Wrong With The World (7:24) / Bite The Grit (4:58) / When Fear Came To Town (9:55) / Turn It Up (Radio Edit) (4:42)

Musicians:
Jonas Reingold - fretted and fretless bass, backing vocals, additional guitars, keys
Marcus Liliequist - drums
Gøran Edman - vocals
Lalle Larsson - keyboards, backing vocals
Nils Erikson - vocals, keyboards
Krister Jonsson - guitars
Inger Ohlen - backing vocals

Discography:
Entering The Spectra (2002)
Wheel Of Life (2004)
Who's The Boss In The Factory (2008)
The Power Of Two (w/Agents Of Mercy) (2010)
In A Perfect World (2011)
Live In The USA (2014)
Dot (2016)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin SE

Added: December 20th 2014
Reviewer: Stephanie Sollow
Score:
Artist website: reingoldrecords.se
Hits: 4750
Language: english