A little walk through the Kent history
October 14th, 2009 by Flint
A few weeks or so ago the melancholy Swedish guitar rockers Kent dropped a miniature bombshell in announcing that they’re about to release their eight full-length early next month, and the announcement was accompanied by the lead single. No one saw it coming, but there was much rejoical. I was one of the happy people and I was already rushing to post about it here but then a little light bulb appeared briefly over my head. Kent may have the rather affectionate nickname of “Sweden’s biggest rock band” and they’re very, very well known around the Scandinavia/Nordic area, but outside Northern Europe their exposure is… less so. Partially this is because they sing in Swedish and thus aren’t much of a huge export, and partially it’s because after two failed attempts at internationalising by making English versions of the albums the band simply gave up and stopped being fussy about it (thankfully, considering how wrong the two English albums sound). And based on a healthy amount of guess work, I’d wager that most of our regular readers (we truly thank you for your continued support and interest!) aren’t from that relatively small area.
So let’s bang out another retrospective and just find out why exactly we’re supposed to be excited about the new album.
Kent formed in 1990 under the name Coca Cola Kids, and after two more name changes as well as some line-up juggling they finally arrived to the short, simple and very well working four-letter name they work under now in 1993, and with the main line-up in tow: Joakim Berg offering both some guitaring as well as his lovely vocal work, Sami Sirviö on lead guitars, Martin Sköld on bass, and Markus Mustonen on drums, as well as Martin Roos on yet another guitar. The band records a demo, gets a record contract and in 1994 enter the studio to begin work on their debut album. And so the story begins…
(and my humblest apologies for some very bad youtubing in this article. The band’s being a tit and not only saying no to allowing their official uploads to be embedded, but the same goes to most fan videos of any good quality. So no fancy embeds, just some ordinary links)
Humble beginnings – KENT (1995) and VERKLIGEN (1996)
If we were to compare Kent’s self-titled debut to any other album, the most fitting would be the Radiohead not-so-classic Pablo Honey. Not much in terms style, although both are rather simple guitar rock albums, but moreso their place in the band’s history. They’re the sort of practice attempt debuts, releases from a band who wasn’t really on their way to their future achievements yet. On Kent the familiar ingredients are here and there-ish, but not yet in a form that would become the band’s trademark sound as they’d progress. Kent is a very much an album by a young band, a teen angst rock album if you will. More emphasis has been given to loud guitar sections than melodies and while it’s a recipe that can work brilliantly, it simply sounds ordinary here. The debut is rather unanimously thought of as the band’s weakest link, which also showed up in the way how it hardly blipped in the musical radar: four singles altogether were released but none really raised any interest.
While Kent the album has its moments – the softly ringing chorus of “När det blåser på månen” being the best one – as a whole it’s rather unremarkable and uninteresting. It’s the sort of guitar rock that comes dime a dozen. It’s not a particularly exciting album to talk about either.
Before the band began recording their second long player, Roos decided to sign himself off due to wanting to build a career in music in another way. He would eventually become the band’s manager. Now a four-piece, the work on the second album began.
Verkligen arrived in early 1996 and immediately got more attention to its predecessor. If the debut was Pablo Honey, Verkligen was similarly The Bends – perhaps not all that just yet but the band had learned their lesson, managed to craft their identity and honed down their songwriting. The songs are now more expressionate rather than just relying on guitar walls, the songs and the album in general feel more focused and there’s even a nice bit of ambition added into the mix as seen in the eight-minute “En timme en minut”. The band also gained their first stab at popularity when the wonderfully energetic lead single “Kräm (så närä får ingen gå)” became a radio hit.
Verkligen might still be far away from the band’s later works but it’s already a very enjoyable album to listen. While at this stage Kent were still a fairly straightforward rock band the songs now had recognisable hooks and the album feels like something you can return to time and time again. Verkligen is essentially the first album where Kent shows something we now know them for and whilst it’s not a great album, it’s very fun to listen to.
VIDEO: Kräm (så närä får ingen gå)
MP3: Halka
Hitting the charts – ISOLA (1997) and HAGNESTA HILL (1999)
The following year the band’s third album Isola saw the light of day, this time as a quintet once again as guitarist Harri Mänty had joined the band in-between the albums. The bursting lead single “Om du var här” was released and, well, the band hit it big. It was one of those songs that was impossible to not hear all the time. With that simple thing, the band suddenly had loads of attention focused on them.
And they couldn’t have picked a better album for that sort of attention. Isola, arguably Kent’s first great album, sees the band switch from the simpler rock of the first two albums into something more melancholy and moodier, lead by contemplative guitar melodies and Berg’s singing while the pace has been slowed down for the majority of the album. The songs have began to expand on their sound: Om du var här carries a string section while the dreamy ballad “Innan allting tar slut” and the classic, everlastingly beautiful album closer “747″ shows the first signs of the band’s flirtation with more electronic elements.
MP3: 747
At this point of their career the band also tried to expand their success to outside Scandinavia/Nordic and re-recorded Isola with English vocals and began touring outside their comfort zone countries. It wasn’t a big success.
Inspired by their sudden fame, the band’s fourth album started to see its form. The idea was to create something slicker, bigger and more expansive. Something that would bring more of the new flavours on Isola to a wider use as well as to create something a bit faster again to complement Isola’s slowness. Hagnesta Hill, named after the location of the recording studio, was released in 1999 to large success, much thanks to the disco-rock hit single “Musik non stop”, as well as critical acclaim. To this writer however, Hill is a slight step back.
In the liner notes for the band’s career-encompassing box set Berg states Hagnesta Hill’s key problem perfectly clearly himself: it’s too long. While it’s true that in many ways it greatly brings forth the band sound-wise and it contains several great songs, it also carries a fair amount of padding inside it. Songs that might even be much more enjoyable if they didn’t muddle up with everything else and create long monotonous stretches. That said, Hagnesta Hill’s high points are truly high points. Particularly the band’s continued experiments with electronic influences satisfy: “Cowboys” is all wonderful atmosphere, the mechanic hyperspeed drive of “En himmelsk drog” turns it into one of the album’s best faster moments, and while “Visslaren” is an almost shameless attempt at writing an equally epic closer as Isola’s 747 to the point of the two songs having the exact same length, it’s still sodding excellent with its extended finale and all (not to mention they don’t sound much alike). Hagnesta is pretty much a stepping stone album bridging between two phases in the band’s history and thus your enjoyment of it can really go either way. It’s definitely got its good sides but it also has its easily noticable less enjoyable ones.
MP3: Kungen är död
After Hagnesta Hill Kent released their first compilation, a b-sides collection aptly titled “B-sidor 95-00″ that compiled every studio recording the band had released on their singles as well some new songs and re-recordings. For a fan it’s a must-purchase – Kent may not be a brilliant b-sides band, but they’re certainly excellent at it.
Sweden’s biggest rock band – VAPEN & AMMUNITION (2002) and DU & JAG DÖDEN (2005)
In 2002 the band’s new song “Dom andra” hit the radiowaves and very shortly cemented the band’s reputation as a hitmaker. The irresistable whistle hook was everywhere (and got to the point that Finnish oldies pop artist made a Finnish-language cover of it). The sound was squeaky clean and slick and the song was almost insanely hook-driven and hit-seeking. Which paved way rather nicely for the band’s next release.
After Hagnesta Hill’s slight overweight, Vapen & ammunition was designed to be compact and to the point. 10 singles, all switches to the max, no punches spared. The rhythm section of the band gets an increased role with punchier drums and steady, deep bass funkily roaming underneath shiny keyboard melodies, cold piano, smooth guitar riffs and layered vocal harmonies. At this point the cynical indie-anal tits might whine about selling out and pondering to the masses.
They might have a point too if it wasn’t for the fact that with Vapen Kent shows just how to make an album like this while kicking ass. It’s clear from the very start with “Sundance Kid” and its utterly irresistable vocal melodies, steadily driving rhythm and suave cool. It’s pretty much the same gorgeous way throughout the album – the ingenius dance-rock of “Kärleken väntar” and “FF” (the latter which comes with some wonderful French backing vocal assistance), pulsating rock giant “Pärlor”, the achingly beautiful “Hur jag fick dig att älska mig” and its divine keyboard waves that drown everything beneath… The strongest of all is “Socker”, one of Berg’s best lyrics and vocal performances as well as a right master strike from the band in the bittersweetly haunting arrangement of the song. The duet with Titiyo (of the “Come Along” fame), minimalistically titled “Duett”, stands as the sole weak spot of the otherwise brilliant album.
MP3: Socker
But of course, bands tend to operate by reactions and counter-reactions and after spending a long, long time touring their new album the band felt the instant tone of the songs had become rather uninteresting to play all the time and thus a change was needed. The solution? Roughen some of the smoothness off and bring in more guitar. The result is the dark and black (literally, as anyone who’s got the physical packaging can tell) Du & jag döden“.
And yes, it’s a very guitar-heavy album. Lots of emphasis on the six-stringer, lots of layers featuring it. But Kent dodged the potential bullet by not ignoring what they had learned during the past few albums and thus all sorts of atmospheric elements dominate the album’s soundscape just as much as the guitars. One might even say that keyboards play an even more important part here than ever before on Kent’s work – when the keyboards kick in the opener “400 slag”, chills run through your spine. Similarly vocal harmonies are used more and more often, adding immense amounts of impact to the album’s more emotional moments (which are a-plenty).
Du & jag döden is pretty much Kent’s masterpiece. It’s perfectly realised in every way. It’s an album full of breathtaking moments. “Klåparen”’s wall of purging guitar noise chorus, “Den döda vinkeln”’s explosion into rock fury from its calm beginnings, “Du var min armé”’s dreamy atmosphere, “Mannen i den vita hatten”’s heartbreaking nostalgia and overaching sadness over an epic rock finale (not to mention “Yes we will all one day die” is a damn great line to finish an album to), “Romeo återvänder ensam”’s brilliant backing vocal usage, “Palace and Main”’s no-mercy rock storming.
MP3: 400 slag
The band didn’t rest after the album. First came the band’s first EP, The Hjärta & Smärta EP that carried five new songs inside its pure white covers (as an intended counterpoint to Du & jag döden’s grim packaging), including the phenomenal, child choir utilising “Dom som försvann”. In 2006 the band released the excellent single “Nålens öga” as a part of a charity fundraising. In late 2006 the announcement came that Mänty had decided to leave the band. The band, now back as their core four-piece, continued the new recording sessions that were going to be something different…
Re-inventing the sound – TILLBAKA TILL SAMTIDEN (2007) and RÖD (2009)
According to the band’s own words, after six albums of guitar-based rock music the band had got bored of their usual instruments. Much to people’s unexpected shock, the first single from the upcoming album contained almost no guitar in the band’s usual vein. Instead, “Ingenting” was packed with electronic beats and was dominated by synth lines. The electronic features the band had twiddled about finally got to the forefront.
The rest of the new album, titled Tillbaka till samtiden, continued the same path. The guitar is minimal, not non-existent but mixed in the background or fuzzed up to sound more synthetic. The melancholy of Kent’s music is now mixed with a slick synthesizer coating, turning it into something gorgeously cool. Tillbaka has a suave stylishness to it, the songs feel emotionally reserved while still completely charged with bottled up urban anxiety. Which is all poetic reviewing bullshit meaning “it sounds awesome and has a strong atmosphere”. The sound has somewhat changed but songwriting has stayed the same. Replace the electronic drum production of “Berlin” with some live drum sounds and add some guitars and you’d have a furious rocker worthy of inclusion on any Kent album – of course, you wouldn’t want to do that because Berlin’s amazing in its current, electronically thrusting form. “Vid din sida” updates the disco-rock of “Musik non stop” into a futuristic form, pulsating with an urban melancholy countless tiny synth figures twirling in the background. After the more synth-driven first half, the band lays down the synthesisers somewhat and brings out the more familiar Kent-style even if guitars are still relatively controlled. Which is all good, as they all still have the same atmosphere and quality as the rest of the album.
Tillbaka handles the transformation brilliantly. It’s a brilliant album that gains new depths with each listen. Its sound is especially suited to night – give it a listen on a late night car/train ride or just in the midst of your bedroom of solitude and the sound engulfs you. And of course, there’s the gorgeous, bittersweet ballad “Columbus” – the band’s best song according to this writer.
MP3: Columbus
After Tillbaka, the band decided to release a boxset spanning their entire career. Box 1995-2006 contains all of the albums, including the b-sides compilation and the EP, with bonus tracks supporting each release and a big booklet detailing the band’s history in their own words.
And here is where we come to the present. Kent’s eight album Röd is to be released early next month and the lead single “Töntarna” is out. While a common thought was that the synthetic direction was only a one-time fling, Töntarna gives the exact opposite sign. It’s even more hooked on machines than anything on Tillbaka, with no traditional band instruments in sight. It also sounds excellent. What the full album is like, we’ll find out in the future.
If you want to hear more by Kent, outside the mp3s and Youtube clips shown here, click here for a Spotify playlist (provided you live in a country where that wonderful program is supported) that contains a very brief introduction to Kent. And after that you might as well just give the albums a spin in the service anyway – they’re all there outside Isola, which you can only find in its English form (where the music is still good but the singing is… not so good) outside five songs from the original album.
Tags: Kent
October 14th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Wow, great write-up. Well done!
October 20th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Kent is a great band, 747 a simply fantastic song.
I can’t help pointing you to a completely different Scandinavian band which is starting to attract a great deal of attention in Denmark. The Rumour Said Fire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8di1WlKyw