Hoven Droven - Turbo / RootsWorld Recording Review

Hoven Droven
Turbo
Home Records (www.homerecords.se)

The guys in Hoven Droven have been playing as a band for 15 years and after all that time, they fit together incredibly well. To see Hoven Droven live is an experience: they emit warmth, love and humor. Even though their first albums both were successful, they moved on, changed direction and released the experimental album More Happy Moments With.... In 2001, another shift took place and Hoven Droven went acoustic with Hippa, their most calm and laid back effort to date. But it didn't take long for them to pick up the electric guitars and their live performances showed that there was still room for both the heavy rocking music and the soft, ethereal tunes.

Turbo, their 5th recording, is similar to Hippa in that nearly all tunes are composed by the band members. It is certainly their most homogeneous album and although it was recorded in only nine days, it is very carefully thought-out.

The title suggests that this album is a powerful affair. The opening pieces, "Bjekkergauken" and "Morsepolskan," remind us of Hoven's early days; simple melodies backed up by hard, solid riffing. But there is another side to Turbo. "Kom Hem" and "Petruchka � Je" are beautiful, slow songs with the 'Hoven Droven melancholy' that brings you to the verge of tears.

These musicians continue to develop their skills, and dare to try new ways of approaching the folk music. The jazzy "Dansen" offers a sharp interplay between Jens Com�n's saxophone and Kjell-Erik Eriksson's fiddle. The latter has always been the most active tunesmith, and "Skuffen" is a wonderful example of Hoven Droven's ability to make a simple, repetitive melody intensely captivating. The melody moves between the fiddle and the saxophone, and the dynamic rhythm section provides an unconditional groove. This type of arrangement was more common on their early CD's, and a few more tunes like this would probably have added some more excitement to the record and pleased their old-time fans.

Along with V�sen, Frifot and Hedningarna, Hoven Droven have been influential in the new folk music scene of Sweden. The large interest in folk music among young Swedes can, to some extent, be credited to these five men from J�mtland in northern Sweden. Turbo is their most solid album so far, perhaps because they have done what most other groups only dream about: capture some of the nerve, spontaneity and bubbly feeling of their live-gigs and bringing it into the studio. - Staffan Jonsson

The artists' web site: www.hovendroven.com

CD available from cdRoots

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