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  • Verklighet & Beat

    H34D

    Artist: Eric Malmberg

    Label: Häpna

  • Den Gåtfulla Människan

    H22D

    Artist: Eric Malmberg

    Label: Häpna

  • Verklighet & Beat

    H34

    Artist: Eric Malmberg

    Label: Häpna

    Eric Malmberg’s music is a small miracle.

    I don’t want to call him a genius, because I don’t want to jinx him. But I will say that he’s a complete original, in addition to being a vastly talented musician. I will also say that his recordings and the two performances that I saw by Sagor & Swing merit a place on a short list of most enjoyed musical experiences of the last half decade. I could bleat about the quality of the work, but “most enjoyed” to me carries the stronger charge.

    Verklighet & Beat, meaning “Reality & Beat” (as opposed to “Sagor & Swing”: “Fairytales and Swing”), is a second high point in Eric Malmberg’s career. The first came with 2001’s Orgelfärger, the first album by Sagor & Swing. S & S were the duo of Eric on his beloved Hammond organ and Ulf Möller on sympathetic, timeless drums. The obvious comparison was to Hansson & Karlsson, the Swedish organ and drums duo from the 1970s. Indeed, Eric is the author of a number of comic books detailing the adventures of Hansson & Karlsson. (He’s also the author of the comic Happy Hammond in Slumberland.) Bo Hansson returned the favor by giving him an organ—as well as by appearing on synthesizer on Verklighet & Beat.

    Orgelfärger came out of a clear blue sky. A brisk, chilly blue sky over a kind of stubbornly verdant rural landscape that I can easily picture but have never actually seen. It charmed by seemingly having zero connection to its era. A Hammond-whirlpool of minor-key melodicism. A snare, a brush,...

  • Den gåtfulla människan

    H22

    Artist: Eric Malmberg

    Label: Häpna

    Eric Malmberg is something of an enigma. How he without apparent effort brings forth these timeless melodies we don't know - only that the music is classic organ pop that aims straight for the heart.

    During the past years, he was the songwriter and organ player of Sagor & Swing. Soon after that band broke up, after four records, this productive musician started to sketch the main guidelines for a new solo album. A year later it's finished. An album made entirely on ORGAN and completely one man's vision, recorded in Insjön, Sweden. A highly personal record, a travel into the human psyche.