Lapko ripped itself away from the everyday to record its fourth album, A New Bohemia. Malja (guitar & vocals), Nordberg (Bass) and Heikkonen (drums) went to Woodstock, New York, to record with producer D. James Goodwin (eg. The Bravery, Norah Jones) at The Clubhouse. The resulting album reveals the band more bare than ever before. “A new bohemia” is like many of the best things — you can’t explain it, but you understand it instinctively. It captures Lapko’s attempt to get a grip of the confusing buzz of modern madness. It is torn between naivety and maturity, caring and not giving a shit, farting and meeting the parents, the weight of the world and the unbearable lightness of being, budget airlines and designer shoes… Musically the clash of the outer and inner world come together as grand and irresistible melodies coupled with rhythmic assaults so relentless concrete jungles will quake. Just listen to the melodies on I Shot The Sheriff — sweet! — the stink bomb rhythms on I Don’t Even Kill — savage! What a combination. Six years ago Lapko’s debut album The Arms (Jukeboss, 2004) introduced a hungry band known for forceful live shows. A vulnerability in Lapko’s aggressive melancholy was there on the debut, it was there on Scandal (Fullsteam, 2006) and it became deeper on Young Desire (Fullsteam, 2007). And it goes deeper still with A New Bohemia (Fullsteam, 2010). The new album is a fist of music that grabs the heart, bruises the body and caresses the soul.| |
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