Les Big Byrd - Ruin Everything (Cd)

Facts The birds have stopped singing. White smoke rises from the lakes, while a final earthquake shakes the ground. On the new album Ruin Everything, our dystopian world has seeped into the universe of Les Big Byrd. "We all know what's coming," sings the band's guiding light Jocke Åhlund in "Big Flood." Elsewhere: "Everything withers, falls apart."

But as a band, Les Big Byrd are in a far better place – and it shows. Two years after the latest full-length, "Diamonds, Rhinestones and Hard Rain," Jocke Åhlund, Frans Johansson, Nino Keller and Christian Olsson are in a creative flow. The joyful creative spirit runs through Ruin Everything, which, in classic Les Big Byrd fashion, alternates between Swedish and English, and sprawling krautrock improvisations with simple pop songs. "I can never stop writing melodies. I don't really like singing that much, but there ended up being quite a few songs with vocals on this record," says Jocke Åhlund.

"Ruin Everything" was recorded in Sollentuna, just outside Stockholm, in a studio with history. Cornelis Vreeswijk, Pugh Rogefeldt and Monica Zetterlund have all been there – which means 50 years of Swedish music history remain in both the walls and the analog equipment. And just as in the old days, Les Big Byrd have tried to preserve a sense of live energy in the music. "We wanted to capture a feeling we've had that's wonderful with the band – four people playing together and what arises between us," says Jocke Åhlund.

Two of the album's songs began as improvisations in the studio – unlike "Time is a Killer," which has been heard live at Les Big Byrd's concerts over the past year. Tracks like "Nån annan dag" and "Beginners Luck" are among the band's most delicate, and partly continue along the same lines as the band's only hit, "Two Man Gang" from 2017. At the same time, the classic Les Big Byrd influences – Tangerine Dream, Suicide, Spacemen 3 – remain firmly intact.

In 2026, 15 years have passed since Les Big Byrd's debut single. Perhaps they still have just as many more to give? Everything seems to have fallen into place, and now only the task of perfecting the group's distinctive sound remains. The band themselves describe "Ruin Everything" as a new step along the same path, and as "peak Les Big Byrd." Or as Jocke Åhlund puts it: "We're late bloomers. It's starting to look like something!"