Dungen - "1999 - 2001" from igloomag

Dungen
1999 – 2001

Dungen occupy an interesting and unique place in modern pop music. Racing through genres in the quest for the perfect psychedelic pop moment, 1999-2001 (an expanded version of the Norwegian band’s first album) is a forty-five minute adventure in sound.

1999’s three tracks are all multi-part suites, tipping a hat to Yes’ Topographic Oceans extravagance. But this album works and works well. A typical suite moves like this: ambient introduction, psyche/folk vocal and guitar, blissed-out fuzz guitar and drums, back to ambient, then vocals/guitar, etc. Accept this as a roadmap and not a value judgment. Each of the three tracks contains enough musical left-turns and unexpected passages of sublime pop beauty.

It must be said as well though, that there is a fair amount of ambient wankery, slowing the pace of the album. Such a place is the beginning of track two, “Midsommarbongen,” which steals a course from Pink Floyd’s “Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast,” with its Popol Vuh-esque Moog work and general disinterest in melody. This unfortunate section goes on for long enough that one wishes the album were not indexed by suite number, but by movement.

On the whole though, Dungen’s earliest material is an intriguing and continually surprising album, a masterpiece that is finally getting a larger audience that it richly deserves.