[Blomljud] is the second album release from the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band Moon Safari

Moon Safari (band)

Moon Safari is a progressive rock band from Skellefteå, Sweden. Formed in 2003, the band quickly recorded a demo that caught the attention of Tomas Bodin of The Flower Kings. They have since released three albums on their own label Blomljud....

. It is the band's first double album, containing 11 songs of various lengths. It was released in 2008, three years after their debut album, A Doorway to Summer. It was released on the independent label Blomljud Records.

Blomljud is Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 and means "sound of flowers", although the lyrics on the album are all in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. The flowers are a recurring theme throughout the whole album.

Composition

Unlike on A Doorway to Summer, where all words and music were credited to the band as a whole, the booklet to [Blomljud] gives credit to separate band members for each song, revealing Petter Sandström and Simon Åkesson as the main songwriters.

Music

Most of the music on the album is credited to Sandström and Åkesson, either by themselves or together. Johan Westerlund is credited as writing the music for "Bluebells", and former guitarist, Anthon Johansson, shares writing credits for "Yasgur's Farm".

Themes and motives

There are a few musical themes and lead motives that can be heard with different lyrics and some musical variations in different songs, making the album more of a single piece of music rather than eleven separate songs.

Choirs

One thing that typifies Moon Safari's music is the choir arrangements made by Simon Åkesson. These arrangements often include four voices or more (note that all five members receive vocal credit).

Time signatures

Like many other progressive rock acts, Moon Safari's songs often use odd changes and values of time signature. The following are some examples found on this album:

• Most parts of "Bluebells" are in 5/8
• "Yasgur's Farm" includes segments of both 7/4 and 7/8 rounded with 4/4
• "Written in the Stars" ends with an instrumental section that switches between 5/4, 6/4 and 7/4
• At the end of "Child Inside the Man", there is another instrumental section in the very unusual 11/8 that may lead to comparisons to Apocalypse In 9/8
  Supper's Ready
  "Supper's Ready" is a song by the band Genesis. A recorded version appeared on their 1972 album Foxtrot, and the band performed the song regularly on stage for several years following this...
  
   by Genesis
  Genesis (band)
  Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
  
  
• "After All" begins with a simple 4/4 but with one bar shortened to 7/8 which creates a section of 8 bars with a total of 30 and a half beats.

Disc One – [ Ka-on I ]

Disc Two – [ Ka-on II ]

Personnel

• Simon Åkesson – lead and backing vocals, piano, moogs, mellotrons, hammond organ, piano accordion, SFX, choir arrangements
• Petter Sandström – lead and backing vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar, occasional electric guitar, SFX
• Pontus Åkesson – electric guitars, 6 & 12-string guitars, mandolin, backing vocals
• Johan Westerlund – bass, lead vocals
• Tobias Lundgren – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Guest musicians

• Anthon Johansson (founding member) – electric guitar on "Yasgur's Farm"
• Anders Pettersson – pedal steel guitar
• Andreas Persson – percussion
• Måns Axelsson-Ljung – violin, fiddles
• Mona Falk – cello on "A Tale of Three and Tree"