“Love/Leave” – 11 Songs of Bob Dylan as recorded by VARGEN
A little over a year ago, we at IndiePulse had the honor of being one of only a few American music publications to break the news of the Swedish musical artist VARGEN and his release of his album “Tänk Inte Efter – Bob Dylan på svenska” (Don’t Think Twice – Bob Dylan in Swedish) which was a formidable task. One would ask how can an artist take the music of one of the world’s foremost music genius and translate it into another language while keeping the music sincere to the original composition?
We reported: “Tänk Inte Efter – Bob Dylan på svenska” (Don’t Think Twice – Bob Dylan in Swedish) by VARGEN was a very interesting review, I would have to say this is a masterpiece of technical and emotional performance skill and , as said, a “Reverence” to the music of Bob Dylan. VARGEN has taken no liberties other than to create a series of covers of the legacy tracks and set them to an emotionally stirring rendition of their original recordings. Keeping to the original canter, measure and beat. With lending his own style and the lovely voice of Mia Rosengren’s voice in the vocals, the poetry of Bob Dylan’s work is preserved to immortality in another tongue.
Many of past reviews of songs done in other languages, some things just don’t translate or translate well, but in this album, “Tänk Inte Efter – Bob Dylan på svenska” (Don’t Think Twice – Bob Dylan in Swedish) is not the case, it was easy to se that VARGEN has truly taken the time and has made good on his promise to create beautiful music while staying true to the original creation.”
Now, we are just as happy to let you know that the artist had reached out to us to review the album re-released with additional tracks!
“Love/Leave – 11 Songs of Bob Dylan’ was released by VARGEN on vinyl and CD last month, a dramatic global release, however, due to the breaking COVID-19 Pandemic, it did delay our coverage and distribution in the states. Vargen (which translates as ‘The Wolf’ in Swedish) is the stage and recording name of singer-songwriter Reine Johansson. In the wake of the international recognition of his and fellow singer Mia Rosengren’s translations on ‘Tänk inte efter (Don’t Think Twice – Bob Dylan in Swedish)’, Vargen’s recorded new vocals in English to all nine tracks from that album. The band also recorded two new songs, singles ‘One Too Many Mornings’ and ‘Abandoned Love’. ‘Love / Leave – 11 Songs of Bob Dylan’ is released worldwide on vinyl and CD.
Reine Johansson has said “We aimed for a timeless sound on Bob Dylan’s songs, Dylan has written great lyrics on almost every topic there is. To hold the album together conceptually we focused on the universal themes love, loss, leaving and longing”.
Musically, the songs vary between americana, country and rock, with essential contributions by Dan Kristensen on guitar, lap steel and dobro. The album is produced by Andreas Alm at Teknikcirkus Studio in Skällinge. Vargen hopes to promote the album with a vinyl store tour in Scandinavia, Germany and United Kingdom as soon as the pandemic’s over. Hopefully there’s a chance to tour USA and Canada in 2021.
In Review: VARGEN’s release “Love/Leave – 11 Songs of Bob Dylan’ is a wonderful homage to the work of Bob Dylan, yet is also a testament to the musical talents Of VARGEN and everyone involved, they have truly captured the wonder and magic of Dylan’s work as well as shown their own talents in a masterful creation in music. Now, you have to realize this was no small undertaking, to take the works of Dylan and perform them is one huge task, but to do so in a language that is not your own, that is a powerful statement to the dedication of these talented artists.
The track listing is an assembly of Dylan’s greatest achievements…
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- I Threw It All Away
- I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)
- Abandoned Love
- It Ain’t Me, Babe
- Tomorrow Is a Long Time
- One Too Many Mornings
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
- Love Minus Zero / No Limit
VARGEN has established himself as an artist that has a reverence to perfection and imbues everything with a muse of creativity. Abd with the talents of Mia Rosengren on Vocals, Dan Kristensen on Lead & rhythm guitars, lap steel, Andreas Alm on Rhythm guitar, keyboards, percussion, sounds, Zacharias Sjöberg on Piano, Jan Lundin on Bass, Måns Broman on Drums with Daddy Musesa on Congas, bongos and the talents of Anna Vild performing Harmonica on Love Minus Zero and backing vocals and Johann Laux performing Drums on Abandoned Love…. This is one amazing group to be sure.
This was an amazing joy to listen to, and I would invite you to enjoy VARGEN for yourself.
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