Bror Gunnar Jansson - And the Great Unknown, Part II
Dying to know the great unknown
Natural blues.
If while listening to him you imagine an old stunted American bluesman with Morgan Freeman’s or Gil Scott-Heron’s face – and even if George Ezra’s voice already played you the trick – forget! Bror Gunnar Jansson is (as his name suggests) a 31-year-old Swedish giant who fell into blues as a child.
Thus some blues, but some gut-wrenching one. With his remarkable rough gruff voice (feels good), this gentleman refreshes a kind of music that really needed it.
A trumpet that sounds the retreat ("Edward Young Took His Gun"), a choking saxophone ("He Had a Knife in His Hand, Part II"). All by himself or so, he lets out a stream of his arguments (credited for electric and acoustic guitars, drums and percussion, tenor sax, bass) and avoids monotony of blues, while preserving its melancholy. Dead good.
You drive on roads to wide-open spaces and that’s very cool with the swing of "I Ain't Going Down that Road No More", then with the gospel backing vocals of "O' Death".
The only track "While I Fight the Tears" could seem off-topic, for its light style differs from the set, and makes me think of Robert Plant, even of Tom McRae. But you’d better see it as a breath.
I recommend you as well his 1st album, unnamed, very roots (lots of slide guitar) and his 2nd, Moan Snake Moan, rather heavy (except a ballad). On the other hand I skip And the Great Unknown, Part I, which is more a big EP than an album, and of which no track marks me.
On the lyrics side, America is very present, one hand on the bible and the other on the gun. The preacher tells us his meeting the devil. Death is not lacking. The scenery’s set up. Perfect to go along with reading a good crime novel.
Testified to by the characters he invented and who inspire his songs, with features each darker than the one before. I bet the gallery is going to extend within the next years.
Years of blues. Naturally.
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The only defect of this album is to have placed "While I Fight the Tears" right after "The Preacher". 2 slow and long tracks (respectively 6:01 and 9:50) in a row are too much. And could leave the listener with a (false) feeling of a big limpness for all the album.
Too bad, because the faster (and shorter!) tracks contrast and restart the machine. The jerk "Moan Snake Moan, Part III - The Bear-Snake" would make a wood rasp wiggle. The rhythmic "Lonesome Shack" (tribute to the band of the same name) hides an implicit kind of a samba tune!! And the throbbing "He Had a Knife in His Hand, Part II" puts the boot in it all (or stabs it all). -
I Ain't Going Down that Road No More
The Lonesome Shack
Moan Snake Moan, Part III “The Bear-Snake” -
Outro
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The sentence
“I had a gun in my back pocket and a bible in one hand” ("Edward Young Took His Gun")
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himbrorgunnar.com (473 Hits)
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...And now, listen!
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Created20 January 2018
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