A new beginning for Blood Music! Or just a wonderful return.
Either way, the new album is a wild ride where Swedish DIY artist/music activist Karl Jonas & his musical friends throw all kinds of ingredients in their witchy brew mix and still make it taste natural and soo good.

Blood Music have been an unpredictable and creative underground band for more than 15 years with feat highlights like: opening for Belle and Sebastian in a huge arena, having the First Aid Kit sisters to sing on 7 songs on the album "the fire and the flame", recording cover versions of The Roches, Daniel Johnston and Electrelane to a limited US split single with Jens Lekman. Still not a household name, though Blood Music always been quite happy with flying just below the radar. 

"An experimental one-man singer/songfighter band with a lot of friends and guests in the house collaborating" is one way to describe Blood Music, another one is "Blood Music is Swedish Karl Jonas Winqvists (first floor power, wau wau collectif, second hand orchestra and label founder of Sing a song fighter) solo project.

Now from out of nowhere comes the follow up to the last album "the light of the future (dark of the past) which came out seven years ago (2015).
And sure, Karl Jonas have been busy these years. Raising a family, running the great label Sing a song fighter, producing other artists like the Scottish folk singer James Yorkston and the Senegalese act Wau Wau Collectif etc etc.
But he has also been working on this this new album and you can tell already from the first seconds of the opening track,: the wild carnival-frenzy drum and holler track "today and tomorrow" that this is something special. Sung by four 11-year old teens the track is like an unresistable force demanding us to do some "dancing, dancing, dancing". Or we die. Ok, we will all die, but let's not today or tomorrow.

The second track "Playing the impossible game" is one for driving on the motorway. A lovely pop song is built around the steady motorik-kraut rhythms. And the amazing lengthy guitar solo in the end is as close as Blood Music ever will get to Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

Next track "Little one" is a short,sweet delicate duet ballad with a pulsating rhythmbox backing up the heartfelt lyrics and Anna Ahnlund's (Dina Ögon) heavenly vocals blending with Karl Jonas. And

Fourth track is an even shorter one. "Trees don't lie" is Karl Jonas at the piano (or is mellotron?) singing a short one minute hymn to the trees of the world.

Side one is ending with the mighty "From little things, big things grow" which is every bit as wild as the opening track, but here the main character is Josefin Runsteen on strings. Along with her staccato violin playing comes the wild drumming of Per Lager (first floor power) and the female duet duo Cecilia Klingspor and Emma Nordenstam.

Side two opens with the dramatic duet "Reluctant dreamers" feat the amazing folk singer Vilma Flood and again Josefin Runsteen is delivering amazing strings (here they bring Karen Dalton's monumental version of"katie cruel" to mind)

"Because I love you" sways and croons like a dreamy swamp groove, which makes sense, because isn't that what love feels like, a dreamy swamp groove ? This track is psychedelic pop at it's best.

The duet "The dead are dancing (when the living sleeps) is a lovely return to Winqvist's old times and history with his band first floor power as he sings this with his ffp-bandmate and extraordinaire artist Jenny Wilson. Another delicious track for driving on the motorways!

Next is an instrumental interlude track "Returning dream, with bells" which floats on by on a psychedelic, dreamy cloud before the closing duet track "Hold on" grabs us with it's odd rhythm. It's an amazing ballad featuring the fantastic UK artist and songwriter Jo Foster.

This album is here and now. Timeless and free. Without any extra glossy production but with a lot of carefully arranged details. And truly wonderful songs, mostly recorded live in the studio at midnight. It is Blood Music strongest work to date. So, yes, sometimes we need a new beginning. But also a new Blood Music album. ..