Blod: Forlorarnas Natt

Blod is a musical project rooted in Sweden’s 1960s and 1970s Progg movement, a left-wing, anti-commercial scene spanning psych-rock and singer-songwriters. The project draws specifically from the movement’s more experimental, DIY side, including influences from bands such as Träd, Gräs & Stenar. Discreet Music, a record store and label run by Gustaf Dicksson, helps preserve this heritage. The latest album, Förlorarnas Natt (“Night of the Losers”), functions like a film score without an accompanying film, using leitmotifs, themes, and reprises. The sound recalls 1970s low-budget cinema scoring, blending easy listening and funky instrumentation with memorable melodies.

"Blod may seem unbearably esoteric. But a little context helps; Dicksson is a spiritual descendant of Swedish Progg movement of the 1960s and '70s-not to be confused with prog rock, it was a left-wing, anti-commercial music movement that encompassed a wide range of styles, from psych-rock bands to nationally beloved singer-songwriters. Blod is indebted to the mossier, more experimental ends of the movement, including bands like Träd, Gräs & Stenar. This is the anti-capitalist, DIY heritage which Discreet Music-the record store and label run by Dicksson-is keeping alive."

"Blod's latest record, Förlorarnas Natt, or "Night of the Losers," scans more immediately as '70s pastiche. It's a film score-style album without an actual film to accompany it-though it faithfully recreates the form, sequenced with leitmotifs, themes, and reprises. As concepts go for Dicksson, this isn't too outré; his album Ondskans Frö ("Seed of Evil") was billed as the soundtrack to the last day on earth, and its resemblance to the soundtracks of mystics Popol Vuh felt intentionally cinematic."

"But Förlorarnas Natt evokes a time when low-budget flicks were given lush scores by Italian composers like Piero Umiliani and Riz Ortolani, who mixed easy listening and funky instrumentation with uncomplicated melodies you could whistle back after hearing once. Film music for films that don't exist is a curious niche within a niche, most famously explored by Discreet Music namesake Brian Eno on his series Music for Films and More Music for Films."

"While Eno left it to the listener to envision the films his eerie soundscapes could accompany, Förlorarnas Natt is less opaque-the title would fit any canonical teen film from Superbad to Ghost World. But Dicksson's in"

Read at Pitchfork