(Progressive Rock) [CD] Prime Mover - Imperfekt - 2007, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The start of what would later become Prime Mover can be traced back to the late 80s, when Michael Karlsson (guitars, background vocals) and Roger Nyman (bass) started to make music together. It wasn’t until 1999 that their debut CD-r Mr Zingelmann was released. On that release they were joined by Dennis Nordell (lead vocals) and Sebastian Teir (keyboards, bouzouki and background vocals). In 2001 they released Put In Perspective. On the album Kenneth Lagerstrцm (drums) was the new guy. And after 2004’s Prime Mover Alias Drivkraft they now release Imperfekt.

How wise is it to name your new album Imperfekt? Some reviewers are bound to make remarks about that. Finland's Prime Mover state in the press bio that they received mixed reactions about their previous album Prime Mover Alias Drivkraft. That’s also Imperfekt’s’ main theme. It deals with the fact that, in everyday life, it isn’t easy to fulfil demands and live up to expectations. Very rarely something feels like it’s perfect. Of course the album is not perfect. But in life very little is. This review for instance won’t be perfect. We can only try.

The album looks good, though. The sleeve design is modern and a good representation of the music on the disc inside. The lyrics are printed against a background of beautiful photo’s from Finland’s natural beauty (made by background vocalist and album guest Olivia Hдggblom). English translations of the Swedish lyrics can be found on the bands website. ‘Swedish lyrics?’; I hear you say. ‘I thought you said they came from Finland?’. That’s true, but it seems that Swedish is spoken by a 6% minority in Finland. So a beautiful booklet and sleeve but a real shame about the terrible photo’s of the band members and guests. They could have made more of an effort there!

The album sounds like it’s been recorded live. That gives the album a very… uhm… lively feel but sometimes also a bit messy. The quality of the songs however is mostly above average, although it’s difficult to place Prime Mover in the progressive landscape. The songs sound modern but added sounds from the Fender Rhodes, clavinet, Hammond and a little Mellotron sometimes steers the sound into the 70s. The guitar sound remind me of 90s grunge bands like Soundgarden. The same applies to Dennis Nordell’s voice. I really like his voice. His sound and vocal melodies do sometimes resemble Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave as in parts of Ingenting (with it’s Metallica ending) and Styrd Av Plastkort (with it’s Porcupine Tree opening). Another influence I do hear is the jazz rock side of Echolyn especially on the very good Mest дr Vдrk. They succeed in mixing all these influences into a style of their own. Maybe that is why the feel of the album reminded me of the late Liquid Scarlett. Hard too place and a little bit cocky. But where Liquid Scarlett also had an experimental side Prime Mover is more straightforward.

I’m not always very fond of the arrangement choices they made. Svдljer Mina Ord for example starts with a very interesting guitar riff from guitar player Michael Karlsson that never returns again. After three minutes the song stops to continue again with a completely different melody. It also contains an exciting guitar solo backed by a screaming Hammond, but the song as a whole does not feel right. The arrangement for the jazzy break in album opener Telefonsamtal Frдn Nor sounds a bit cheesy and the same goes for the ‘la la la’ break in Mest дr Vдrk. As a whole the songs are good but a little more self criticism would have made them even better. Sagt Och Gjort is a short song with lead vocals from Sebastian Teir. That’s not a success. He should leave the singing to the far superior Dennis Nordell.

There are plenty of highlights to mention. The very progressive Ingenting is an impressive song with lots of nice breaks and tempo changes. It features some great clavinet and Fender Rhodes work from keyboard player Sebastian Teir. Also I Verkligheten has a lot to offer in it’s nearly five minutes, especially the catchy Moog part sounds great. Enbart Psykopat is simply a beautiful song which opens with a very moving guitar motif (that does return again!). It has a strong chorus that I would want to sing with them if it wasn’t for the Swedish lyrics I keep choking on. In I dimman has a lot of tension, which reminded me a bit of Ritual's song The Groke. Again it has a beautiful chorus, but you have to wait nearly three minutes for it.

It may sound as if the album is a bit of a mixed bag but that is not true. I really enjoyed the album but some of the songs could have been much better if the band had looked to them with a more critical eye. Overall I would say that Prime Mover is a talented band and Imperfekt is an album that shows that one day Prime Mover might just make that perfect album.

Conclusion: 7 out of 10

LEO KOPERDRAAT

- Dennis Nordell / lead & backing vocals
- Michael Karlsson / guitars, backing vocals
- Sebastian Teir / keyboards, bouzouki, bakcing vocals, lead vocals on Sagt och Gjort
- Roger Nyman / bass
- Kenneth Lagerström / drums
- Olivia Håggblom / backing vocals on Telefonsamtal från norr and Sagt och gjort
- Miklos Långvik / acoustic guitar on In i dimman
- Klaus Canth / dobro solo on Sagt och gjort
- Ellen Karlsson / background voice on Ingenting