It’s easy to feel powerless in a world where elected and unelected officials are making decisions that are counterproductive to humanity’s overall wellbeing. With her new album, and we stood there, Bonander acknowledges this and offers a fight back.
By Graeme Smith
“The album is about different stages of powerlessness,” she explains. “I think that comes from feeling a simultaneous apathy and panic toward the chaos of the world right now.”
It’s a weighty topic, yet one that the Swedish artist approaches with a fresh style. Her album is full of witchy, atmospheric electronica that takes from a longstanding Nordic experimental tradition and adds to it. Bonander has a distinct point of view which she expresses poetically across the album’s twelve tracks.
The record’s title track gets things going in rousing, edgy style, pairing heavy percussion with snatches of vocals. It’s crafted chaos, introducing us to the world which Bonander hopes to tame.
It leads seamlessly into the percussive Clay. The early highlight is stripped back yet layered, eccentric yet catchy. Clay is one of the album’s three singles, along with edith and apathy, and it’s easy to see why.
Much of and we stood there is a solo effort, with Bonander building through sampling and her own recording, but some tracks are augmented by collaborators. Vargtimmin, for example, is a particularly striking duet with Kristina Issa. The two artists’ vocals contrast yet gel beautifully.
Bonander also brings in Dan Berglund (Tonbruket), Tusen Tungor, and a string quartet, giving and we stood there a feeling of collective action.
The album’s themes come to the fore during late highlight apathy. The track strikes powerfully, poignantly pointing out how disengagement with politics allows extreme points of view to rise to power with a small, engaged base. There’s a lot of that going around.
“I hope the album can spark some kind of drive,” Bonander says. “To keep reacting. Maybe even to act.”
I hope so too. The creative arts remain a bastion against authoritarianism, as it always must. Bonander is part of this charge, approaching the fight in the way she knows best. The result is a captivating album with plenty to say and soundscapes that are easy to get lost in.
You can keep up with all things Bonander by following her on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, and Apple Music.
And we stood there is out now via Icons Creating Evil Art, and you can listen to it below.
