Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side - Pathfinder - 2016
“We were aiming for a dirtier sound ...”
intro
“Pathfinder” is the first full-length album from Swedish prog rock project Jonas Lindbergh & The Other Side. It is the follow-up to the 2013 EP “The Other Side” and with the aim for a dirtier sound. Jonas Lindberg explains; “We wanted something heavy with less of the west coast-leanings from the previous record”. On this album the band draws inspiration from progressive rock bands like The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard. Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side started out as a solo project for Lindberg, but has since progressed into a core lineup of returning musicians.
line-up
Jonas Lindberg - bass, keyboards, Moog, Mellotron, additional acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, background vocals, acoustic guitar on "Leaving the world behind", lead vocal on "On the horizon"
With:
Jonas Sundqvist - lead vocals; Michael Ottosson - Hammond organ, piano, Rhodes, keyboards; Calle Stålenbring - electric guitars; Jenny Sandgren - lead & background vocals; Nicklas Thelin - acoustic & electric guitars; Jonathan Lundberg - drums; Maria Olsson - percussion
review
On this delicious album you can find the following eight tracks; “Square One”, “Lost”, “Peace of Mind”, “Pathfinder”, “Leaving the world behind”, “On the Horizon”, “Zenith” and “Closer to the Sun”.
The opener “Square One” sets immediately the pace and atmosphere of the album. Delicious rock songs with great vocal harmonies. Several good male and female voices are present on this album. Nice melodies and fine instrumental parts with delicious synth and guitar solo's. It took me a while to find out where the quality singing was reminding me of. To my own surprise I came up with the name Toto. Well you can see this as a big compliment.
After the up tempo opener the band slows down a little bit with the track “Lost”. But the tension of the music is slowly building up towards the end with a nice and dirty guitar solo before the melodic vocal refrains will return. The third track “Peace of Mind” opens with a nice synth solo. The vocal melodies on this track are very beautiful. The band makes a kind of easy accessible melodic rock with nice progressive accents. Melody is the key word on this album. But the band not shrink back to put some jazzy piano parts in this track. It is one of my favorite tracks on this album that is in balance and don't have weak parts.
The first section of this album is very strong because after this great track we get the title track “Pathfinder” which is also wonderful and has some strong guitar parts. “Leaving the world behind” opens slow with acoustic guitar and a jazzy bass. The melodic vocal melodies and harmonies are very strong in this track and makes this song also one of my favorites. “On The Horizon” opens with mysterious keys and a strong electric guitar melody. With delicate vocals and guitar and piano parts this track develops into a nice ballad. I love the melodic synth solo in the end. As I mentioned before, this album has no weak parts! The album closes with the tracks “Zenith” and“ Closer to the Sun”. The first one “Zenith” has some heavy guitar work and nice keyboard solo's on a bed of jazzy atmospheres. And is highlighted with some very beautiful vocal melodies. The last track “Closer to the Sun” is also one of my favorites. The piece has nice synth and Hammond parts, jazzy guitar work and the vocal melodies on this album are just great.
conclusion
Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side has surprised me with this wonderful album “Pathfinder”. You can find top notch melodies and vocal harmonies on this album. The band makes a kind of easy accessible melodic rock with progressive accents. Jonas is accompanied by a bunch of talented musicians on this album. An album that has a great sound, is in balance and has no weak parts. “Pathfinder” is a wonderful album ... highly recommended!