Release
date: August 16th
2016. Label: RidingEasy Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
Band
Members:
Adam Johansson
Erik Ståhlgren
Henrik Björklund
SVVAMP
– Album Details:
Swedish trio Svvamp is
the real deal. Countless bands today strive to sound genuine --
whether faking their way through a ProTools pastiche of carefully
assembled takes, painstakingly tarnishing tracks to give them a “live
feel” or simply copying the style of their favorite band. And,
usually, their posturing is entirely transparent.
Every once in a while
though, you find a band without self-conscious pretense that truly
echoes the mood and vibe of an era when the rulebooks were burned
with the draft cards and the act of playing rock’n’roll was
simultaneously defiant and inherently casual. Svvamp is just that
type of primordial beauty captured on a perfect 11-song debut.
Svvamp was created by
three friends - Adam Johansson, Henrik Bjorklund and Erik Stahlgren -
drawn together for the sake of jamming and a love of rock, folk and
blues. Their resulting heavy psych sound is immediately gripping in
its homespun feel and hints of Cream, Eric Bell-era Thin Lizzy, CCR
and Crazy Horse.
“Our first recordings
were made on a 4-channel cassette PortaPro (with microphones that we
found lying around) and were really crude, recorded live to
cassette,” the band explains. “We grew fond of that live feel and
demo takes started to sound like finished songs. Over time, with
almost everything made live in our rehearsal room, it became a full
album.”
“Serpent in the Sky”
kicks things off with a syncopated bluesy riff romp, while “Burning
Down” echoes the stomping freeform feel of the New Yardbirds’
“How Many More Times.” Once things settle in to the laid back
shuffle of “Free At Last”, Svvamp really finds its groove and
lets loose like Axis: Bold As Love Jimi Hendrix. “Time” sounds
almost like Ziggy Stardust era Bowie with a boogie swagger and cheeky
vocals. “Set My Foot and Leave” sounds as earnest and
unpretentious as The Faces (and at times like Rod Stewart’s “Maggie
May”, without all that shaggy, smug Rodness). Elsewhere, “Blue In
the Face” slips into a heavy groove while “Oh, Girl” bashes out
stop ’n’ go riffs with the Marshall stack dramatics of Blue
Cheer. Chiming mandolin and acoustic guitars lead the charming
closing anthem, “Down By The River" (not the Neil Young song).
Svvamp will be
available everywhere on LP, CD and download late August 2016 via
RidingEasy Records.
