Madrugada
A Deadend Mind EP
Virgin Records Norway

A Deadend Mind is one of the calmer songs on Madrugada's latest CD, The Nightly Disease, an album that in hindsight perhaps will be looked upon as a transitional release, torn between the beauty from their at times overwhelmingly beautiful debut, Industrial Silence, and a bunch of harsher, more aggressive songs. There may not be many shreds of light to be found in a deadend mind, but the song is certainly not ripped of beauty. Nice melodic moves, perfectly coloured by Robert Burås' clear tremolo guitar. Next up is a live version of Vocal, the opening track from Industrial Silence, with only acoustic guitars backing up Sivert's voice. If not essential, it stands firmly, also without the lush production of the original.

The other 4 tracks are all new. It is pretty obvious by now that the band really like the EP format, perhaps feeling less constraint, less pressure. View From A Hilltop is a relaxed, almost sedated, almost cosy little acoustic song, where the main character is just watching trains rolling by, birds flying above, people going off to work, people returning home, and so on. Sounds boring? It's not, I'd like to spend a day on that hilltop every now and then. With Fast Blues For Little V we're back in rock'n'roll city, trains swooshing by, the birds are scared off, if not by the trains, then by the two acid saturated guitar solos in this very straightforward rock'n'roll song. But again, the band manages to come up with a memorable and very hummable melody line. Sort of a good-time feel to it also, no minor chords at all ...

I said there were 6 songs on this EP, and that's what my CD-players decodes, but to add some confusion, the last two ones are called 4-Track Country Songs Part I and 4-Track Country Songs Part II. "4-track" refers to the recording device, and these are raw sketches, low-key and un-cut. To bring further confusion, both these songs consists of two separate parts, making it really 4 songs, or 4 tracks ... To top if off, the last one of these are somewhat hidden, separated by a good three minutes of silence. This last song is a bit psychedelic, an instrumental made up of some sparse bass tones and droning and sliding guitars, a real filler, while the other country tracks/songs are just what they appear to be - decent small country tunes. All in all, the most up-beat release from Madrugada so far, at least musically speaking, but probably also lyrically.

Copyright © 2001 Knut Tore Breivik