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Written in fRoots issue 283/284, 2007
 

HOVEN DROVEN
Jumping At The Cedar
Home Records HOME044 (2006)

The wildest, heaviest, rockingest recording of Swedish dance tunes you’re ever likely to encounter. Sweden’s Hoven Droven in full flight in front of a joyous 500 North Americans at the Nordic Roots festival at Minneapolis’ excellent Cedar Cultural Centre.
      This is no brainless bashing up of the rudiments of traditional music in an undifferentiated jiggety blur, though; Kjell-Erik Eriksson is a very fine and respected traditional fiddler and the other four, on rasping saxes, screaming, fuzzing, chop-chiming electric guitar, pumping bass and big impelling drums, combine great hard-blowing rock skills with deep understanding of the forms they celebrate and amplify. Some trad, some by Eriksson or guitarist Bo Lindberg, the polkas, hallings and waltzes are all shapely and memorable. “Are you ready for a waltz?” howls Eriksson in the mêlée as the band launches into Okynnesvals, manic jerky squee over a massive loping groove that brakes suddenly into a prim solo fiddle tune-statement before lurching off again.
      Hoven Droven are always powerful live, but even so this was clearly a special gig, a triumph despite cymbal-theft and equipment breakdowns meaning they had to borrow from Norwegian folk-rock band Gåte.
      It’s a beautiful hugeness, with occasional breath-catching moments such as the stately Årepolska that opens the second CD, followed by an audience sing-along in the Norwegian waltz Dortea. Yes, it’s a double, but at the price of a single CD. A full listen-through might produce uncontrollable symptoms of polska-frenzy, so use with care in the living room or on public transport.
      The review copy is on ex Hoven Droven trumpeter Gustav Hylén’s Home label, but in the US it’s released by NorthSide.


© 2006 Andrew Cronshaw



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