Considering Fat Again’s front cover artwork, one might suggest that Swedish multi-instrumentalist Simon Steensland “apes” Univers Zero on this 2009 AltrOck label release. But for the moment let’s just say that UZ discs like 1981’s classic Ceux du Dehors and particularly 1987’s near classic Heatwave are a big influence. Steensland took his time on this, his fifth studio album, which was composed, arranged, mixed, and produced between 2005-2008, and the time and effort expended are clearly evident. In Ruggero Formenti’s liner notes, Steensland is quoted expressing discomfort about being labeled as an “experimental” musician, comparable "to people who bang kitchen utensils or sing in cookie jars, an approach that is seldom gratifying for anyone else but the performers.” In fact, Steensland doesn’t bang, hit, or pound much of anything here -- perhaps having gotten the drums out of his system on 1999’s Led Circus -- and on Fat Again he turns the drum stool completely over to Morgan Ågren, an ongoing Steensland collaborator, Zappa alumnus, and co-leader of the Mats/Morgan Band. However, Steensland does prove adept at a variety of string and keyboard instruments, put to good use on the 16-plus-minute “Der Klang von ‘Musik’" and 20-plus-minute “The Lion Tamer,” epic tracks that bookend the album. These multi-sectioned opuses -- also featuring several other musicians on keyboards, clarinet, accordion, and guitar -- balance driving rock and even doomy/sludgy metal-infused passages with quieter but no less dark interludes in which clarinet, accordion, harmonium, glockenspiel, and wordless female vocals rise to prominence. Ågren is often in Daniel Denis mode here and on the eight-and-a-half-minute “Hide Seek,” whose martial rhythm is a tad too close to Heatwave’s title track to be deemed original in conception.

1		Der Klang Von ''Musik''
2		Lost In The Ark
3		Merde!
4		Memories of Jan Jösta
5		Loch Ness
6		Hide & Seek
7		Fräls Oss Ifrân Ondo
8		The Queen of Sweden
9		Petite Merde
10		The Lion Tamer

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