Kent
Tillbaka Till Samtiden

THE REVIEW

Courage, whether it leads you to sit on a throne or lie inside a coffin, should be rewarded. Then, people always remember those who win and quickly forget, after burying them under infamous criticism, the losers. Unfortunately, that's how it goes, and that's why (at least in Scandinavia) people remember the Kent and their seventh work very well, trailblazers of the electronic turn that casts a mysterious and slightly decadent tone over their music that only a synthesizer can offer.

It was a winning idea, yes, but because, like most winning ideas, it was carefully studied and not risked in a night of madness: if the listener, accustomed to the guitars that had characterized every album of the Swedish band until two years prior, initially finds themselves bewildered by the dark and mammoth pace of "Elefanter" as well as the electronic cathedral "Columbus", upon closer inspection, they will realize that Kent is actually still there, and with them is the healthy dose of melancholy that has always characterized their music productions.

"Tillbaka till samtiden" is nothing more than the plasticized coat of their typical home sound, it's a grown-up boy who prefers slim shirts and thin ties over jeans and a t-shirt. Joakim Berg's voice is still there and it's always the same, intense and delicate, while Martin Sköld increasingly contributes to the writing of the music and helps to shape what slowly but inevitably becomes the new profile of the band: an electronic setting that frames the romantic and poignant power of their compositions.

The already mentioned "Columbus" is a clear example, as is the single "Ingenting" or "Vy från ett luftslott", which will enjoy greater fame in the remixed version featured in upcoming tours. Unlike other works by the Eskilstuna boys, not all the tracks here are memorable, which makes the album a bit fluctuating; however, like the previous masterpiece "Du Och Jag Döden", it has managed to include a concluding trilogy worthy of applause: "LSD, någon?", at number nine, moves over an arrangement so fine and meticulous that it seems drawn on graph paper, and when Joakim Berg shouts "I'm here for you", it makes you think "thank you".

"Generation Ex", in a duet with the beautiful Camela Leierth, is an overwhelming whirlwind of emotions that want to be shouted, thrown away, a whirlwind that culminates in the final epitaph, sad and solitary, icy and deep: "Ensammast I Sverige" concludes the album, sweeping away the dry leaves and releasing a dirty, cold, and sharp rain from above.

Time passes, and the albums proposed by Kent become increasingly less immediate while retaining a solid commercial aspect that always shoots them to the top of the Swedish charts; this "Return to the present" is not immediately appreciated and, in fact, initially, one might have the impression of having been somehow betrayed if one still expects the guitars to dominate, but continuing in that vein would have meant repeating themselves by now. And repeating oneself is always tremendously boring.