Postures-Halucinda (World In Sound)

It is always a joy when you listen to an album for the first time and you have to stop whatever you are doing and listen again. This is something I have done with this album quite a lot recently. The thing is, it is a difficult album to pin down, but the one thing this Swedish quintet can do is write great and unusual songs. The emphasis really must be on the songs, they have melodies that just explode out of your speakers filling every corner of the room, and the fact that the hauntingly beautiful voice of Paulina Nystrom is as strong as it is fragile in equal measures, only adds to the listening experience. Musically ‘Postures’ fill the album full of complex and relentless rhythms and time changes that at times remind me of ‘Trail Of Dead’ or a less folky ‘Trembling Bells‘. The playing and the musical prowess of the band cannot go unnoticed as the songs rise and fall in a web of progressive arrangements that demand your utmost attention.

You have to hand it to ‘Postures’ in a time when a lot of bands are reliant on simplicity and repetition they made an album of extraordinary dexterity and clinical precision. To do this and keep your attention is quite some accomplishment. There are moments where the gentle folky side of the band comes to the fore especially on the short and all too brief interlude of ‘A Million Sequences’. On the whole the album is a dynamic mixture of progressive rock with hints of folk and psychedelia. The band are looking at touring in 2016 I imagine that in a live setting these songs really will soar and the experience will be quite special.