Buy the ltd edition red LP from your local record shop or direct from us here: Bandcamp
Or contact Svensk Psych Aften for copies of the black vinyl version
-
“At the end I didn’t not want it to stop… I never want it to stop”
-
“It’s a beautiful expression, and it’s one of the best first albums you’ll hear in 2019”
-
“This music simply chants ritualistic mystery and beauty”
-
“One eye on the future, one of the finest albums that Rocket has ever released”
-
"The record is fittingly nestled among the lysergic legions of Rocket Recordings, contending nicely with their lineup of higher burning trip makers of late"
-
"This record parts the Red Sea, those on the patient and weirdly virtuous side of those sacred waters will certainly love this record"
-
The Press Release:
“The mantra that you’re given in Transcendental Meditation you keep to yourself. The reason being, true happiness is not out there, true happiness lies within” - so states David Lynch, a vocal proponent of this art on a twice-daily basis since 1973. It’s a maxim that holds true to Sweden’s Centrum, whose Rocket Recordings debut forms no less than a mysterious yet meaningful voyage into inner space.
Indeed, on ‘För Meditation’ these sometime members of Hills and Weary Nous explore a soundworld that demonstrates all too adeptly that true heaviness of intent need not be the preserve of demonic riffs and highly cranked amps. Weaving a dense and beguiling
tapestry of drone-based hypnosis, mantric vocal chants and ritualistic folk along with field recordings from a trip the members made to India, this band also inadvertently plots our a map from the experimental music of the early-‘70s to the present, alighting on a myriad touchstones on the way.
Yet tempting through it may be to place ‘För Meditation’ amidst the uniquely Swedish lineage of primal and arcadian Psychedelia that began with artists like Arbete Och Fritid, Träd, Gras och Stenar and International Harvester, the band are keen to emphasise that
inspiration arrives at Centrum from all quarters. “From Pandit Pran Nath to Trees, from Velvet Underground to Popol Vuh, anything and everything.
“We had a curiosity to create a space where the listener would get a chance to just relax and be part of the journey. It was definitely a plan to make it a kind of meditation aid. Life today is so very fast in many aspects, so we wanted this to be a contrast to that.”
Recorded and mixed by Centrum on 16 track tape the band wanted to make an imprint, in this case through the use of traditional instruments like the Harmonium as well as singing in
their native Swedish tongue, their aim would be to imagine music as a homage to the beautiful oneness, a celebration of life and death that one can sometimes glimpse as humans.
-
So lay down relax, turn off your phone and let Centrum be your guide!
---
