DUNGEN ///
INTERVIEW CAMERON COOK ///
GIRLIE ACTION, NEW YORK ///

Unless you've avoided the entire borough of Brooklyn and every independent record store in the tri-state area for the last year, chances are you're at least a little familiar with a certain Swedish gentleman named Gustav Ejstes and his musical project Dungen (guys, for the very last time, it's pronounced "doon-yen" and means "corpse" in Swedish). Dungen's third album, Ta Det Lugnt, finally got a domestic release this summer thanks to Kemado Records, and Gustav and his band of merry men (a revolving roster of musician friends and collaborators), seem poised to finally fill the psych-folk-rock void left since the rise of punk-not that we're complaining, but it's good to have a little variety every now and again.

Ta Det Lugntis a buoyant love-fest of an LP, songs almost losing themselves in their own melodies, Gustav's voices piercing through every now and again, every word in his native tongue. New single "Panda" (which, we can only assume, deals with pandas, which in turn makes it that much more awesome) is a monster Chili Peppers guitar orgy, laying down bricks for an album steeped in both psychadelica and traditional Swedish folk music, a huge influence, according to Gustav.

Being a band best savored while curled in the fetal position with a set of big-ass headphones, it was a little bit of a shock to interview Gustav in, dear Lord, broad daylight, without the comfort of a blankie and my favorite rattan chair. Not to mention that a certain 'Sup Managing Editor (who shall go nameless) called me up at 10am with some story about some writer dropping out and could I please get downtown to interview Dungen? Always eager to converse at length with guys with lots and lots of hair, I couldn't have been happier to fill in and talk music, mushrooms and rockin' flute playing with Gustav.

Everyone must ask you this question, but I'm going to ask it anyway: why do you sing in Swedish as opposed to English?
Because Swedish is my way of expressing myself. It's the most natural way. I want my music to be honest and natural.

Obviously it's worked out, when you started out, weren't you afraid that the music wouldn't be able to export? That American or British people wouldn't find it accessible?
I never had any-how do you say-intentions with the band.

So it was just for yourself, just to do it?
Yeah!

OK, then do you think that the fact you sing in Swedish adds to your appeal?
I don't know, maybe. Most of the people I've talked to compare Dungen to the Icelandic group Sigur Ros. They don't understand [the words], but I like when they listen to the voice of the instruments, so they don't have any hang-ups on the lyrics.

How is your band perceived in Sweden? Are you more popular here, or is it about the same crowd?
The people that like my music are a spread-out kind of crowd. It's not just one type of crowd. In Sweden, we have all sorts of people, from teenagers to middle-aged people. That's really interesting.

This just might be me and my American ignorance, but it would seem like since people in Sweden could relate to the lyrics and get into the music that way, whereas here it would be purely and viscerally on the music alone. It's weird that in the end it would pull the same demographic of people.
That's what I like about it. All the lyrics on this album are just about my own experiences. Sometimes it's even hard for Swedes to understand what I'm saying! (laughs) It's important to me that the lyrics mean something, but it's not the most important thing that people understand what I'm singing. Speaking of what the lyrics mean. Um, what do they mean? (Laughs) The album is about everything! The title track, Ta Det Lugnt, means "take it easy", so that's about [how people shouldn't] take everything so seriously. Especially with pop music, people shouldn't make it into some sort of religion. Listen to it, and if you don't like it, fuck it and listen to something that you like. In my experience, Swedish music lovers have so many ideas about what music should sound like, and should be like. Just take it easy. I love music, and I love music that sounds like this, and if you don't like it, whatever.

So when you tell people to take it easy, you're telling the world in general.
Yeah. There are a lot of bands and musicians who make music that they probably think is the best thing, right now. I think you should make and listen to music that you love.

Tell me a little bit about how you made the album. Your recorded it on a farm, right?
Yeah! I always recorded a lot of my music by myself. I started out portable studio, very cheap equipment. Then the second album was recorded in a fancy studio. For this album I just decided to get back to where I started. Play a lot of instruments myself and I rented just really basic equipment and came down to my mom's place. I borrowed a house from her and just stayed there for a summer.

Did you play everything on the record, or did you get other people?
I had a few people who came and did some of the guitars. There's a drummer on two tracks, there were people around, but most of the things I did myself.

How many instruments do you play exactly? There are lots of instruments on this album. I was trying to count them and I was like, 'Hold on...'
(Laughs) Hmm, I dunno, should we count them, then? (Laughs) It's just traditional rock instruments. Guitar, bass, drum, keyboards, some flute, some violin. So like, six.

That's more than most people!
(Shrugs shoulders) Ahh!

Just for my own personal curiosity, I want to ask you about some of the song titles. As you've probably realized by the course of this interview, I'm obsessed with lyrics. It's even hard for me sometimes to get into instrumental bands, I'm like, 'Yeah I like it but... they're not saying anything!' I've been listening to the album a lot, and I was surprised I liked it at first because I was all 'Aww, I'm not gonna like it, I don't understand what he's saying!' It's a great album, so I got over that pretty quick, BUT, just to ease my conscience: my favorite song on the album is "Du E F??r Fin F??r Mig"-did I pronounce that right?
Uh... kind of!

What does it mean?
It means "you are too good for me", or "you are too fine for me". The song could be about a girl, of course, who is too good for me, but the lyrics are also about my self-destructiveness. You drink too much, you smoke too much (laughs) and I am too good for myself. I'm destroying all the good things about me.

I would have never though that. I thought it would be more along the lines of happy mushrooms and little elves. That's a downer.
(Laughs)

Another one: "Gjort Bort Sig"?
"Gjort Bort Sig" means "make a fool out of yourself".

So this is a pretty self-deprecating album! It's like, goth and shit.
(Laughs) It could be! The song is about how you can't make a fool out of yourself. Like I said, if you're just doing what you want to do, then it's not possible to make a fool out of yourself, if you're willing to stand up for what you think. ///