Sweden’s Propane Propane released their Indigo (review here) LP in 2012 through Clostridium Records, and they’re marking that 10th anniversary by issuing three lost tracks from the era. The longer of them is “Purple Sun,” premiering below, and there’s an instrumental demo of the same song, as well as a track called “Cult of Börstig.” The vibe in that shorter, lyric-less piece is relatively soothing, where “Purple Sun” works to be anything but. Hypnotic, perhaps, for its overarching nod, the nine-minute roller digs deep into post-Electric Wizard riffing — in my head it sounds “very 2012,” and thinking that makes me smile — but the song’s weight and groove hardly sound dated for that. It will be easy to dig. If you’ve made it this far, you will not regret clicking play.

I imagine that when it came down to it, it was either “Purple Sun” or the 12-minute “Indigo” that would end up on the vinyl version of the album, and well, it’s hard to leave off the song you’ve named the record after (or vice versa), but while the atmosphere of “Indigo” is definitively less straightforward, droning out later into more cosmic fare after its drifty beginning, the relatively blunt (pun completely intended) riffery of “Purple Sun” has its own appeal, and the same goes for the manner in which it grows more aggressive in its vocals as it moves through. Propane Propane were not out to challenge the universe, but listening to it now, it feels all the more like a celebration, certainly of Indigo‘s 10 years, but of that era of the band’s work and the sheer joy of getting together in a room, being loud and fortunate enough to have someone there to press record.

No need to keep you. I think you get the picture, and if not, you will by the time “Purple Sun” locks in its groove. Some words from Benjamin Thörnblom (guitar, vocals, synth, production) follow the player below, giving background on the cultish underpinnings of “Purple Sun” and “Cult of Börstig” alike.

Please enjoy:

Propane Propane, “Purple Sun” premiere

Benjamin Thörnblom on Indigo & More:

“In the late 1960s a pyromanic family ravaged the Swedish countryside of Börstig, where I lived 1990-2001. Many of the neighbors had been mentally scarred for life from the terror this family inflicted upon the area. Hundreds of innocent animals lost their lives in the fire and smoke because of the madness of this family. In the end nobody in the family got prison as there was not enough evidence to prove guilt. During the long-winded trials two of the brothers claimed in opposition to each other to have started the fires. This and the lacking evidence left the court helpless and the brothers and their family walked free in the end, for good.

These events changed Börstig, it gave a springboard for paranoia among the villagers and eventually even generational trauma. Safety and trust got ripped out of the core of the area but people did try to go back to a normal life and not live under constant fear but it was very hard. Many waking up in panic during the nights for years to come from small noises or deep embedded fear that another fire could strike again at any given time.

During 2010 under the influence of substances, confusion and paranoia I wrote and recorded a song during roughly one or two days. The result became ‘Cult of Börstig’ which emotionally revolves around these events. I actually recorded the entire bass track first, standalone, and then did drums. Later I tracked the guitars and recorded deranged whispers and a bunch of hidden things.. It got pretty layer in the end.”

Bandcamp: https://propanepropane.bandcamp.com/album/purple-sun

2022 marks the 10 year anniversary of Propane Propane’s album ‘INDIGO’. The roughly 9 minutes long ‘Purple Sun’ was recorded during the Indigo sessions at Boltzmann Brain Studio (2010/2011) but was at the end cut from the final release. It came down to both vinyl run-time constraints and the sense Purple Sun did not fit the context of an album that already had plenty of slow earth shattering titles such as “Food of The Gods”, “Truth” and “Indigo”.

The up until now unreleased track tells of a clan traveling through the country in service of a force and a deity they themselves have chosen to name “the purple sun”. By focusing and sacrificing their mental energy and essence to this hidden force they in return get an unspeakable but very real state of being which expands their capacity, strength and resilience in the journey through life.

The 10 year anniversary release contains the track Purple Sun and the demo originally called “Rising Sun”. The last track, a calm instrumental, called “Cult Of Börstig” revolves around the pyromaniac family ravaging the Swedish countryside of Börstig during the 60’s.

Propane Propane, Indigo (2012)

Propane Propane on Facebook

Propane Propane on Twitter

Propane Propane on Bandcamp

Clostridium Records website

Released on limited vinyl in 2012 via Clostridium Records, the Indigo sophomore full-length from Sweden’s Propane Propane is a crisp execution of a classic stoner rock idea. Where much of the European scene has given itself over retro methodologies or to the thick-toned psychedelic jamming of the Elektrohasch set, and there remains a strong core of acts embroiled in a commercial heavy rock that to American ears seems like an impossibility yet nonetheless thrives and results in copious summer festival slots, Propane Propane walk an effective balance between the two, tapping into their inner Colour Haze on the quieter moments of “Cosmic Hideout” but delighted in the chugging riffage that comprises “ANT.” What’s perhaps most impressive about Indigo – which was preceded by a 2009 self-titled and 2011 B-sides compilation – is how seamlessly the Nässjö-based trio makes these sides come together. Guitarist/vocalist/recording engineer Benjamin Thörnblom (he also wrote the liner notes included with the LP and handled synth) would seem to be the figurehead in the band, and he provides a strong presence right from the start of opener “Rise” on vocals, the structure of that and the other songs being an even more classic element than their riffly influence. A Karl Daniel Lidén mix assures a big, open sound, and Indigo is remarkably well balanced, professional and smooth without being overly so. Thörnblom isn’t above throwing in a little “stoner rock lead singer” voice every now and again when the burl is called for, but his approach in general is dynamic enough to not make it so outlandish, and his guitar work, lead and rhythm, is exceptional, as the solo on “Rise” also demonstrates. Fitting accompaniment comes from bassist Niklas Andersson and drummer Jakob Gill (Rickard Swahn has also joined on guitar since the album was put to tape), who don’t so much follow the riffs on the alternately soft/loud nod-worthy grooves of “Kometh” as fill them out, and the result is a strong power trio able to jam out one minute and the next lock into a serious-business rocker constructed from elements that might be familiar but are nonetheless put to excellent use. “Kometh” (6:38) rises to a righteously wah’ed apex before crashing down and delivering a final chorus with effects layered in the mix en route to the shorter “ANT”’s more straightforward thrust, which finds Propane Propane capable of Swedish heavy rock of the highest order.

A sense of balance and flow persists through the rolling grooves of “ANT”’s chorus and into the more psychedelically driven “Cosmic Hideout,” the sonic largess of Thörnblom’s guitar and Andersson’s bass tones rumbling like some forgotten idea that sounding big and modern doesn’t necessarily equate to being over-produced. They do shift from the more open psych to heavier crunch after the two-minute mark, but even so, the context is different on “Cosmic Hideout,” and the result is one of the album’s strongest tracks, with landmark bass work from Andersson – yes, I mean it – and unabashed groove that gets tied together with an epilogue’s return to the guitar meandering that started the track at the end, showing that as far into the heavy rocking cosmos as these gas giants may want to go, they haven’t forgotten their purpose. Side A of the 180 gram platter rounds out with “Truth,” which pushes the diversity of sound even further via a screaming guest vocal from Kongh’s David Johansson placed right as the groove is at its most vicious, resulting in a heavy sort of metal (as opposed to a heavy metal) not so dissimilar from latter day Dozer in its starting point but nonetheless Propane Propane’s own as regards the destination. Thörnblom answers back by leading through a mounting swirl of leads and Gill’s prevalent crash cymbal ends the track. Even without having to flip the record, you know something just ended. Side B launches with “Aquatic,” a more patient instrumental given to flourishes of chugging here and there that add excitement to a slower pace and psych layering in the guitar. Of everywhere on Indigo, the fuzz might be most prevalent here, and notes held into feedback bring what might have started as an intro jam to a hypnotic finish, just in time for “Return of the Burning Son” to punch the listener in the face with the song’s immediate rush. There are parts of the album early on where the vocals come off as distinctly forward in the mix, but the balance on “Return of the Burning Son” smoothes that out while answering some of the stonerly straightforwardness of “ANT” earlier in the album – all bad attitude and burl and a touch of blues at the halfway point that leads to a guitar-fueled build that ends the song raucously but not over the top. Propane Propane are never completely out of control here, and if anything” Return of the Burning Son” is a little more restrained than it needs to be, collapsing in its final moment.

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Swedish heavy rocking four-piece Propane Propane made their debut on Clostridium Records earlier this year with the full-length Indigo. Available in a variety of limited vinyl colors and formats, the record finds its first visual representation in the new clip for the track “Rise,” in which — among other things — Propane Propane oversee the total psychedelic destruction of the planet. Pretty ambitious for a first video — I mean, where do you go from there? — but still pretty awesome and fun to watch.

The track also rocks. I haven’t heard all of Indigo yet, but if “Rise” is anything to go by, Propane Propane have their stoner riffing house in order, and seem less interested in ’70s retroisms than some of their countrymen/contemporaries. Either way, you can’t lose with this kind of heavy.

Propane Propane are Benjamin Thörnblom (guitar/vocals), Jakob Gill (drums), Niklas Andersson (bass) and Rickard Swahn (guitar). Enjoy “Rise” on the player below:

Propane Propane, “Rise”