MP3: Tobias Hellkvist - When everything fell apart
Swedish artist Tobias Hellkvist first made a name for himself with his sublime acoustic cover of Efterklang's "Step aside" (listen at myspace). The electronics of the original are beautifully transcribed to organic instruments. In many ways, it's not too disimilar to José González's famous version The Knife's "Heartbeats". Neither cover supplants the original electronic version; they stand alone as individual works, like two sides of a coin. On Tobias' new album "Transports" however, the focus is shifted from sublime acoustic pop to drone as the work is entirely instrumental and lacking in conventional guitarwork or song structures. The track "Moment at Ven" (listen at the aforementioned myspace link) is most straightforward of the pieces in that it's built around a recognizable guitar figure, albeit enhanced with digital effects and backed by field recordings. It's a beautiful, languid piece of music, but I've decided to share one of the longer, more abstract tracks instead.
"When everything fell apart" buils layers upon layers of shimmering waves of sound, gradually getting louder and more intense as the piece continues. To me, it's the sound of lying in the sun without care of obligation: pure bliss. Voices and guitar fragments come and go, but the gentle wave of the cental chordal theme continues unabated throughout. It's the kind of ambient dronepop that I can listen to on endless repeat (and sometimes do). You want feel-good summer jams? Look no further.
Tobias Hellkvist - When everything fell apart