Friday, December 8, 2017

Anna Högberg Attack - Self-titled [Omslatt, 2016] Sweden

I figured that to stop listening to an album I have to write about it. And lately I've been buying records almost impulsively, as if that gives me some special meaning, a way to get b(u)y. "Shit I don't feel well today let's buy me some Rahsaan". Really, anything goes as soon as it is a bargain and of course appeals to me.  So one day I was browsing hi and lo only to come across to this awesomeness of a cover. I knew Anna Högberg but I had no idea about a band bearing her name and oh they've already had a record out? And a year's passed already? Shame. And more shame that the band played my town and I had no idea, but it was a festival and me don't likey festivals, I keep telling meself.

What do people do after they receive their records? Store them carefully? Do most of us "collectors" even have a turntable to play them on? I know that I'd occasionally buy records without having one but here's an excuse for that.. I'm an immigrant in Sweden trying to make ends meet, switching homes like a caged canary is being switched corners to avoid getting sun-toasted. But now I've got me a cool corner and a turntable and I'm playing my records. Which reminds me I've yet to receive this one. It's been 3 weeks already, I ordered from a Swedish retailer, the label is Swedish, the band too, their label oh as well, so why does it take so long to get here? I've been killing it on Spotify anyway so why the fuck do I even bother paying for it? Here's an explanation for that one too.. I like to partake in the supreme communication form we humans are blessed with music, so I treat a record in any form as an artefact of this communication. In this case, I'm the receiver and Attack is the preacher. I'm listening.

This is a spiritual record and I mean in it in the house-of-god sense of the word. It's full, if I may say so, of Aylerisms, Coltraneisms, Colemanisms but only to the level a good student has been doing their homework. The six ladies here unleash with relentless force and conspicuous grace, balancing between chaos and safety, retaining their own personal blast, their own personal voice. The sound delicately gives and I, ever unsuspected, take. Best release of 2016 hands down, too bad I got to know of this in late 2017. But good for me that the band's apparently releasing their sophomore in 2018, with the recording sessions having been finished as of November 2017. Brilliant and can't wait!


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