1. 1969 - 14:122. Turn It Up - 6:53
3. When the World Is Caving In - 8:59
4. Can't Take It With You - 5:43
5. There's Nothing Wrong With the World - 7:246. Bite the Grit - 4:57
7. When Fear Came to Town - 9:54
On their fourth album, Karmakanic provide another stirring session of adventurous, exploratory, and exciting music. Flower Kings bassist Jonas Reingold succeeds where many other great players have failed - while he could have made Karmakanic purely a showcase for his virtuoso bass playing, he takes a back seat to his band, crafting an intricate and satisfying album that stands proudly on its own, not as a mere side project.
Reingold gets songwriting credits, but the whole band shines in the songs and arrangements. It starts out with "1969", a symphonic delight with gorgeous piano, stately electric guitar, and fantastic harmony singing. Part history lesson, part philosophic musing on idealism versus reality, it incorporates many movements seamlessly and sets the tone for the rest of the album. Indeed, it's almost a concept album about the economic crisis - the sunny rocker "Turn It Up" features sly lyrics against capitalist bigwigs, but "When the World is Caving In" flips it, examining the soul of one of those bigwigs looking for repentance and redemption. Our tendency to ignore or justify problems informs the soaring, melancholy "There's Nothing Wrong With the World", while "Can't Take It With You" is a highlight, juxtaposing Latin piano and percussion against distorted, chugging metal guitar. One minute you're doing the cha-cha, the next you're headbanging. And if features great lines like "Money makes any day sunny" and "Money, money, sweeter than honey", delivered with supreme irony.
The songwriting is high quality throughout, culminating in the restrained, emotive "When Fear Came To Town." Starting with soulful, bluesy acoustic guitar and the lone lead vocal, it gradually adds calming jazz piano and brushed drums, with some truly sweet fretless bass. This song is all class, no flash - yet another impressive display of Reingold's songwriting ability.
This Swedish band may owe a lot to those other Swedes, The Flower Kings (and to the prog bands of yore - Genesis, Yes, ELP, Kansas...), but they have truly carved out their own identity. Lead vocalist Goran Edman has a very good singing voice (something to be treasured in progressive rock), and at least four other guys in the band contribute superb backing vocals. Guitar, bass, keyboard, drums - all are top notch players that value melody and interplay over show. Add in some very thoughtful, well-honed lyrics (seriously, is English really their second language? I can't write that well), a strong jazz/fusion leaning, and a general love of excitement, and you have Karmakanic's In a Perfect World.
Arbitrary rating: 5 out of 5 truly sweet fretless basses
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