dungen - "du är för fin för mig" (from the ta det lugnt lp, available for purchase here.)

in brief : like abba never happened ...

when first reading reviews for dungen, my inner churl thought, "ah, sigur rós for people who cried sellout when they stopped singing in hoeplandic and started naming songs again." wrong, per usual: sigur rós never seem to touch the ground, whereas dungen's feet are firmly planted in their native swedish soil. their heads, however, are another question entirely ...

"du är för fin för mig" is two songs in one and therefore displays both sides of the band. the first side--side, and its connotations of a record, being particularly apt here--is highly melodic (they are swedish, after all) and stringkissed; it would fit nicely, "nice" being a watchword, on the second nuggets box, somewhere between timebox's "gone is the sad man" and blossom toes' "when the alarm clock rings."

and though sweden is now the home of abba, cheiron and robyn, the second-half of "du är för fin för mig" reminds one that the earliest ancestors of the swedes were the germans--and, thus, krautrock. in particular, think amon düül, more i than ii, more metal and less motorik. at its best, dungen are like mass in f minor-era electric prunes; at its worst, like an iron butterfly album--or the mars volta.

(note: if pitchfork is to be trusted, dungen's earlier work tends toward the latter. buyer beware.)