Friday Full-Length: Spacedrifter, Spacedrifter EP
Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 14th, 2025 by JJ KoczanLast year, Swedish heavy rockers Spacedrifter released their debut album, When the Colors Fade (review here), speaking to genre with influences spanning generations. I’ll admit I don’t know much about their origin story at this point — I suppose I could ask, but we’ve never spoken and that’s a hell of a way to open a cold call: “Hi, I dig your record. Tell me everything about how you made it.” — but the only other outing presently on their Bandcamp page is the five-song/23-minute 2021 self-titled EP that was the precursor to the full-length. None of the five songs was held over from one release to the next, as sometimes happens, so it’s a chance to get to know the band as they were a few years back and inherently closer to when they first got together; the timing there would hint at coming together during the pandemic 2020-2021, but again, I have no confirmation of that.
More important, ultimately, are the songs themselves. Spacedrifter‘s LP stood out for how fluidly it seemed to capture that moment when grunge split, sound-wise, onto multiple paths. To simplify, going one way went commercial alternative rock, and underground went the riffs. In songs like “The Room That I Cursed” or “Maroon,” Spacedrifter balance ’90s-informed heavy rock and grunge with a modern production style. This is perhaps taking a lesson from a generation prior — the bands of the aughts who, in honing a vintage presentation, dug themselves into a hole chasing down expensive analog recording equipment and making their lives harder in the name of authenticity; not that the results weren’t often killer, but there’s a reason most of those bands drop the veneer after a couple records, and it’s not just because Nuclear Blast might have told them to — but it results in an immediately refreshing take.
Scandinavia as a whole is undergoing something of a generational surge in underground heavy right now. From weed-worshiping bong metal to psychedelic prog and an increasing amount of ‘tundra rock’ besides, Spacedrifter are by no means alone in their outset, but it’s a special moment worth appreciating while you’re in it, and for being under 25 minutes long, Spacedrifter encapsulates a decent amount of why. Opener “Artificial Ignorance” gives an immediately modern cast and kicks in with an uptempo swing that’s part Uncle Acid-style garage and part scorching desert hook. It is the first of the three rockers included, with “The Room That I Cursed” following and “Maroon” after the quieter semi-surf-toned instrumental “Perpetuum Mobile” before the largely-acoustic “Farewell” closes, and begins the dynamic course set by a band who right out of the gate show themselves to be thoughtful not only in craft, in the writing of their material, but also in how they guide the listener through it.
If you heard When the Colors Fade, you probably already know that thread continued onto the LP, but here, guitarist/vocalist Adam Hante (also percussion), drummer/vocalist Isac Löfgren (also some guitar, mandolin), guitarist/noisemaker John Söderberg and bassist/vocalist Olle Söderberg (also some guitar and drums, plus engineering and mixing) read as more nascent, claiming territory in sound for themselves rather than fleshing out their sound as the full-length let them do. Regardless of a given track’s direction, the band are able to create both an atmosphere and a sense of movement, and while the sum total of their scope may not be earth-shattering in terms of originality, it’s a band’s first self-released EP — classifiable as a demo in most situations — so maybe ease up and let the kids grow into themselves a bit.
But I’ll emphasize that I don’t say that because the EP is somehow lacking. If Spacedrifter were shooting for individualism as their prime directive, they would use something other than guitars to get there. Spacedrifter, as an offering, manages to give a heads up on a band setting forth on what one hopes will be a longer-term progression — something they’ve already continued with the long-player — while finding a sound that’s organic but clear and that groves with heart and a welcome aural perspective. The melodies of “Farewell” vibe like MTV Unplugged or that acoustic track on all your favorite grunge records, and “Perpetuum Mobile” is enough of a diversion to give an impression of breadth and to let the listener know this is a band who neiher take themselves too seriously nor neglect to bring a sense of flow and variety to a short release. That would already be a lot to ask of a first drop, and when put in combination with the surety of their performances throughout, they’re for sure giving more than they’re taking from their audience.
Is this Swedish heavy like they used to make? Well, it doesn’t have quite the same desert-worship bent as the likes of Dozer or Lowrider circa 1999-2000, but there for sure is an element that looks back on ‘what was’ in the heavy underground of that time. But Spacedrifter aren’t singly sourced in their points of inspiration, and the blend they concoct is accordingly complex. To put it on paper, the songs mostly speak to vague ideas like “the ’90s” or “melodic grunge” or “fuzz riffing,” but none of that gives you a sense of who they are as songwriters. While they’re able to hit you with a catchy chorus whether the song is loud or quiet — by that I mean that “Farewell” stays in the head right alongside the much heavier, more voluminous “Maroon” just before — Spacedrifter show themselves as dug into the creative process on an exploratory level but well aware of what they want the songs to be and do.
That will change over time, as both the ideal and the actual course of the last few years have shown. I hear a fair amount of new music — it’s my favorite kind — and I’m not always inspired by an album to go back to what came before it, but Spacedrifter sparked that curiosity, and in addition to young bands in-genre being a cause worth supporting broadly, these songs hit a sweet spot that can’t be denied. As always, I hope you enjoy. THanks for reading.
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Also, thanks for reading.
I’m writing from the car, so pardon me if I keep it brief. I should take over driving in a bit, and thanks to The Patient Mrs. for picking up first shift.
We’re heading to Rhode Island for birth certificate paperwork on behalf of our daughter. It’s complex politically. I don’t particularly want to talk about it until it’s done. Even then at this point, in this weird, stupid world.
Next week is full, and so is the weekend, as it happens. I never caught up to news stories this week. I wanted to get posts up for Fomies (album), Windhand (tour), Rezn (tour) and the Up in Smoke Fest (lineup), also Electric Highway, Vision Eternel, Ikitan, The Answer Lies in the Black Void, and I just got a press release about a new single from The Discussion, which is Laura Pleasants from Kylesa’s post-punk jaunt. Oh, to be made of time.
Or money, for that matter.
Mostly I’m made of squishy goo contained in a thin plasticky coating. Culture teaches this as a precious thing. I’m not sure anymore.
Have a great and safe weekend. Hydrate, hunker down if it’s cold. Today’s gonna be a long day and tomorrow we’re back on the road home, but I’ll be around as much as ever if you need anything.
Oh, and new shirts coming next month, I’m told. That’ll be sweet.
FRM.