My Review: Loom - a new kind of SADNESS

 

Loom - a new kind of SADNESS

‘All things fade

all things die

no more temptation

no more fascination’

A journey with hands full of uncertainty does not allow for any kind of benefit, which is the goal of this experience.

Seeing how this period of human existence forms constantly advancing solitudes can give art really interesting insights. And here the Swedish band succeeds in this task with a new track (the first of three this spring), full of melancholy, of words that surround awareness as well as ignorance, places as well as time, to approach the truth and plunge it into a sensible, non-debatable sadness. On vocals this time we have Fredrik Axelsson, supported by his sister Monika and Roland Klein, in a moody stratosphere that surrounds the skin of every thought, with a coral reef composed of a riding guitar, a postpunk bass in the odour of sanctity and the echo of the most melancholic side of the band Adorable to disinfect the fear of being able to be happy.

A resounding comeback, in which one notes the ability to remain within one's own stylistic code (historicised by 32 years of splendid career), with an opening towards a sad pop touched upon many times, but here expressed in a sublime way.  And the guitar solo (in the finale), essential and well interlocked with powerful and imaginative drumming to the right point, offers tears corrupted by the true, concrete and powerful words written by Fredrik, for an inexorable fadeout.

The song demonstrates the usual approach towards a gentle shoegaze, never exaggerated, almost anomalous, always at the arm's length of an alternative that sets itself the role of suggesting strategies and multiple possibilities.

The refrain, a true thermometer of Ålem's band, provides a shawl of compact tears, with the heart bowing to realisations in which life seems to lose strength, revealing futility and charm now left behind, in a past that with time remains a memory to be abandoned. Fredrik's baritone mode is set alongside Monika's mezzo-soprano one, for a truly impeccable result. Among the darkest compositions ever written by this combo, always imbued with poetry and capable of provoking important reflections, here the Swedish ensemble reaches the summit, from which it launches these notes that have a great chance of being welcomed and cuddled.

And it is a long-range surprise to realise that there are many of us who need this new sadness...

Out on Friday 28 March 2025

Alex Dematteis

Musicshockworld

Salford

27 March 2025

https://loom2.bandcamp.com/track/a-new-kind-of-sadness