DIM GRAY - FIRMAMENT
This album features one of the finest songs I have ever had the pleasure of listening to and owning in more than 40 years of serious music loving. Somewhat regrettably, the remainder of it is merely superb. If this site had a Top Ten Album of the Year List (it won’t), this would be a serious contender for number one.
It is a sad and irrefutable fact that should you ask a bunch of people down your local pub in the United Kingdom to name a pop or rock band from Scandinavia, then the responses you would get are likely to be thus:
Sweden Abba (everyone)
Finland That lot who won Eurovision with the funny faces (nearly everyone)
Norway Aha (some blokes but mainly women over 50)
This, as us progressive rock fans are aware, is a great shame. Over the decades of the modern rock era, the colder climes of the continent have been responsible for many a fine artist, and, in fact, I think that is absolutely the case in the here and now.
To this pantheon can safely be added Dim Gray from Norway, whose sophomore album Firmament was released recently. I first heard of them, probably in common with most of the people reading this review, when it was announced that they had been signed to English Electric Recordings, the home of all things from the wonderous Big Big Train. Indeed, they have been supporting the band on the recent (curtailed) European Tour.
The trio who make up the band are Håkon Høiberg on guitars, mandolins, vocals; Oskar Holldorff on orchestration, (mainly lead) vocals, keyboards; and Tom Ian Klungland on drums, vocals.
There are guest musicians on the album, and these are listed as Ellen-Martine Gismervik on cello, Hanna Nicoline Krohn Moland on violin, Halvor Rollag on bass, Guro Røvik Marstad flute on Avalon/The Tide, and Gregoire Blanc saw & theremin on Iron Henry.
This is a wonderful album. It is about a satisfying slab of art rock as you are likely to hear in 2022, and I have reviewed some extremely fine LPs this year. The album opens with the first single, Mare, and this is just about the best thing I have heard this year, it is that good. Click on the video embedded here and drink in and immerse yourself in a work of the most breath-taking beauty (indeed, I was the first to “like” it on YT when it was published). As the initial chords explode into a sharp noise, Holldorff provides us with one of those hair on the back of the neck raising vocal moments, literally exploding out of the speakers. Whilst he sings that nothing makes sense to him, musically the entire piece, which absolutely races along, makes perfect sense to the listener. The backing vocals by Høiberg are delicate, and his guitar work perfectly accompanies this throughout the mid-section alongside a gorgeous piano. When the main theme reasserts itself, the drums lead the riffs. Stunning. Beautiful. Think of a superlative which radiates joy, and this song provides you with it, yearning and questing.
There is, of course, a danger that something as good as this track somewhat reduces the impact and enjoyment of what is to follow, but I am happy to report that whilst barely anything in the entire 21st Century could possibly touch me in the manner of Mare, the rest of what the band provide us with is excellent, thoroughly enjoyable.
Ashes follows, with a ghostly theme exploring those dark moments before awakening featuring some interesting percussion effects and huge keyboards. The vocals and whole band explode again in a massive sense of noise welcoming sunrise, but this is not a welcoming but a searing sun and thence to the ashes of an event which intertwines with some more thoughtful laid-back moments in a piece dealing with the impact of an apocalyptic event. It is, in fact, a very commercial piece of music and has that wall of sound I love so much in my favourite music. The video is embedded below.
Undertow features a disturbing set of string instruments and keyboards which follow a more subdued opening. Once again, the ability of the band to hit you with a wall of noise is demonstrated. It is followed by Avalon | The Tide, the second single from the album. Avalon is, of course, the mythical Arthurian island. I like the questing mood in the determination to reach the shore and the expansion of the music just short of three minutes in is wonderful, as is the short movement before The Tide element of the piece, which features the flute and violin as warm orchestration.
52 ᷉ follows. It features some more of those wonderfully dreamy vocals heard on the opener and has some gentle piano to accompany the spoken narrative in the background. It is hypnotic in its impact and that voice is simply exquisite against the hammered chords.
Abalus (another mythical island) | In Time is up next. It has a distinct change in mood, thus maintaining the interest of the listener. I like the sound effects which crash softly in the background, and the song is a thoughtful one. In the myth, amber was washed onto the island by the waves which crashed around it. The contrasts again in the vocals of the two main protagonists is interesting and this is a satisfying modern rock track.
Long Ago starts with an evocative piano accompanied by a lyrical vocal recalling images of memories floating into the mind, and when they do, it is so nice to see them again. Just over two minutes in, the song fades to silence, before gentle strings presage another of those musical explosions and the guitar notes at the top of this passage are incredible. The remainder of a lovely song follow the themes and as the piano fades to nothing, this is a track which lives long in the memory.
My Barren Road oozes melancholy. It has at its musical core some gorgeous string orchestration, backed by some reverb guitar and, despite its funereal tone, I find it rather uplifting. Cannons provides Høiberg with his opportunity to shine on lead vocals, having impressed us throughout backing. This track is starkly different from much else, spartan and rather Americana in its execution, and I once again marvel at the simple but so effective guitar chords which raise their head in intensity accompanied by orchestral keys in the closing passage.
Iron Henry continues the mythical theme running throughout the album. The eponymous hero was a creation of the Brothers Grimm, whose master had been transformed into a frog, and he was so upset that he had to place three iron bands around his heart to stop it breaking. If you are a parent with youngish children, who appreciate great storytelling, why don’t you get this tale and play the music as a perfect accompaniment to it with its swirling and dangerous keys alongside the gothic piano and the lyrical voice. This is intelligent music at its finest, a real highlight of a great album.
The title track is a short piece, less than three minutes long. The beautiful vocal is brought to the fore by the accompanying piano and orchestration. This utterly gorgeous piece of music clearly relates to Biblical myths relating to the separation of earth & heaven by God in the creation period and really would not sound out of place being played to a dedicated audience at The Royal Albert Hall at the Proms. It is a classical piece at its heart, and it is expansionist in its emotional sense, especially when it segues seamlessly into the final piece, Meridian, in which we are treated with more of those lifting and quite spectacular vocals, with orchestration which is strongly influenced by Kid A & Amnesiac period Radiohead (something I like a great deal), but with a distinctly Nordic take. This conclusion to the album takes us right back to its opening. By that, I mean you are breathless by its denouement. Stunned into silence by the sheer beauty as the expansive chords disappear into silence.
Well, what an album. You can buy it at https://dimgraymusic.bandcamp.com/album/firmament Listen to it and then, as I have, get it for the ridiculously cheap price of €8.40. You will not regret it.
A wonderful work and simply irresistible. Now then, how about telling your friends that there is one more band to add to that Scandinavian quiz question, eh?