Ja, dä ä dä

The first track on the album “Love, Love, Love” should be instantly recognisable to fans of DJ Shadow as the crashing introductory drum break was lifted in its entirety for Shadow’s “Mutual Slump”. Aside from that it’s a brilliant bit of rock with an astounding guitar solo courtesy of Wadenius.

Elsewhere on the album Pugh turns his hand to doom-laden blues with “Här kommer natten”. He bows his acoustic guitar with mixed results on the folksy, Donovan-esque “Signe”, and demonstrates his ability to eat a harmonica on the slightly bonkers “Dä ä bra, dä ä fint”.

But by far the best track has to be “Små lätta moln”. Apparently a song about clouds, it’s a terrific bit of hazy psychedelic folk, with gentle acoustic strumming and circling finger picking. Gorgeously ethereal vocals carry the track through to its dreamy psychedelic ending.

Pugh carried on through the seventies with some notable releases such as Pughish in 1970 and 1972’s Hollywood. However his records seemed to become less well received towards the eighties as rock became outdate and less popular. Thankfully he is still making music today and his back catalogue is worth a listen, even if it’s just to discover that there is more to Sweden’s musical heritage than Benny and Bjorn.