Paraformalia by Das Bandt

The recording of this debut album has taken over two years of these musicians lives where they have recorded, discarded, rearranged, re-recorded, mixed, remixed, re-recorded again, with some more vital steps left out in this description. The songs on the album have been chosen from their earlier live repertory and have been heavily reworked to fit better in with who the musicians were at the time of the recording, both musically and on a more personal level. The final mixed product was then mastered by Håkan Åkesson at Cutting Room (The Ark, Division of Laura Lee, Her Majesty, The Mo, etc.) and the album was finally released as this CD on the independent label Recoil Energy Records on January 1st 2007.

The band known as Das Bandt was born out of hearing so much music, and so much good music as well, that just did not give the impression of something honest. It was born out of a wish to celebrate the individuality of the human spirit; to try to express what is there deep in ourselves and at the same time try to evoke feelings in the listeners, possibly not the same emotions but to make them feel that they are hearing something real. Born out of a belief in that music can become the ultimate form of human communication.

These may seem as big words, but even if you cannot hear any of this in the music, it is alright, it has been proven enjoyable even by cats, dogs, and other small furry animals (not to mention music lovers, at the bottom of the food chain).

Laying the main rhythmic foundation on drums and percussion is Ian Wainwright with a highly individual, quite aggressive playing style which is definitely an integral part of the band’s sound. The fretted and fretless basses are handled by Daniel Dluzewski who has a keen melodic sense but still maintains a good feeling for rhythm, which gives the music a whole new dimension. Markus Forsberg is responsible for all guitars and the lead vocals, both of which are explosively expressive yet also with more restrained moments to provide contrast and a framework for these emotive forces to work in. Daniel, with a solid classical vocal schooling also provides backup vocals that starkly contrasts with Markus’ lead vocals. On top of this Ian also plays the xylophone on the ending track All Aboard and Daniel fills in here and there with the bassoon. Together, they form a sound that not just probably will sound like nothing you have ever heard before, but also really is music of high quality that can just as well be enjoyed for its “objective” qualities if you are not attracted to the distilled emotion that is present in the music.

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