Rikard Sjöblom
The Unbendable Sleep
Gungfly Productions
2016
Rikard Sjöblom is the guy behind prog rock unsung heroes Breadfish, who’ve been going on for quite a few years now making a bit of a name for them in the process. Apart from them, he’s also released albums under the Gungfly moniker and has also been a part of UK progressive rock band Big Big Train. Somehow he got stuck with the idea of releasing an album under his own name as well, a thing he’s done once before, many years ago, like a decade or so, releasing an instrumental album entitled “Cyklonmannen”, a piece inspired by a beatnik novel of the same name. Go figure. That’s some obscure stuff right there. In wanting to produce something completely “personal”, he’s now delivered a vocal album, where he handling everything, pretty much.
It’s a pleasant listen, proggy, poppy, easy to listen to, free flowing, sometime a little folky, but generally a bittersweet yet not extremely sappy affair that can get both a bit eccentric as it remains eclectic about what influences it accumulates. There are two parts to “Love and War” opening and closing the album, interestingly enough, so rather quirky – almost trad pieces like “Under Northern Skies (Villemo’s Song)” or the short instrumental exercise of “Building a Tent for Astor” but probably the pick I‘d make is the little genius track that is “Realm of You and Me” a little pop ditto that is dealing with interpersonal relations and having enough belief in oneself. Pretty cheesy and a little tepid, but important stuff.
Worth giving more than one spin and easier to swallow that some two hour, complex dramatic stories, (clears throat) If you know what I mean.
It’s a pleasant listen, proggy, poppy, easy to listen to, free flowing, sometime a little folky, but generally a bittersweet yet not extremely sappy affair that can get both a bit eccentric as it remains eclectic about what influences it accumulates. There are two parts to “Love and War” opening and closing the album, interestingly enough, so rather quirky – almost trad pieces like “Under Northern Skies (Villemo’s Song)” or the short instrumental exercise of “Building a Tent for Astor” but probably the pick I‘d make is the little genius track that is “Realm of You and Me” a little pop ditto that is dealing with interpersonal relations and having enough belief in oneself. Pretty cheesy and a little tepid, but important stuff.
Worth giving more than one spin and easier to swallow that some two hour, complex dramatic stories, (clears throat) If you know what I mean.