Swedish psych-stoner-folk proggers Gaupa have gone from five members to four – but the change hasn’t held them back, as new mini-album Fyr demonstrates. The fresh start offers guitarist David Rosberg and bassist Erik Sävström a perfect moment to look back on how far they’ve come.
As Scandinavia continues to excel as a hotbed of musical creativity, Sweden’s Gaupa have staked a claim in recent years as one of the area’s hottest free-thinking exports, and their current release will further cement their place in the progosphere.
It’s only a mini-album, but Fyr packs a powerful punch, and it’s perhaps all the more impressive given it comes after the quartet had to press the restart button when guitarist Daniel Nygren called it quits last year.
Speaking to remaining guitarist David Rosberg and bassist Erik Sävström it soon appears that the recording process – which was more fragmented than usual – wasn’t all joy and sunshine. Rosberg describes the process as “tough,” while Sävström, who admits he is more of a stage man than a studio dweller, says it was a “trauma.”
He explains: “With previous recordings we’ve always done everything in one studio. But the dude who recorded us then stopped doing it. He’d recorded us, mixed everything and was co-producing everything and he was a close friend. It was a loss not to be able to record at his place.”
Rosberg adds: “It was a very different approach this time. It was a bit hectic as well – everything was quite last-minute. The process was a bit too rushed for me; but I’m happy with the result.”
That result is four songs – Lion’s Thorn, Heavy Lord, Ten Of Twelve and Elastic Sleep – which span 24 minutes in which they grab Gaupa’s atmospheric, free-thinking and stoner-speckled rock and inject fresh chutzpah; a gift for diehards and newbies alike.
One of the their strongest selling points has always been singer Emma Näslund, whose soaring, captivating vocals leave a mark as permanent as the wine stain on your sofa. With a line-up completed by Jimmy Hurtig and his booming drumming, there are moments on Fyr (“lighthouse” in Swedish) where it sounds like Björk in a blender with Black Sabbath, with a dash of Porcupine Tree and Tool. And the world is surely a much better place for it.
Näslund’s nomadic lyrics explore wonderfully grand themes such as time, reality and nature, all inspired by Ursula K Le Guin’s sci-fi novel The Word For World Is Forest. “There’s a lot of references to time being elastic, and surreal shit that Emma drops all the time,” Rosberg says with a smile. He reveals the theme was inspired by a concept album involving a ticking clock which never made the cut.
Following Nygren’s departure, the remaining members decided to abandon musical ideas that were already in gestation and start from scratch with fresh material for Fyr. As a result, the release – their first with engineer Karl Daniel Lidén – marks a turning point.
“We usually come up with riffs then sit down in our rehearsal space, and bring everything together by jamming,” explains Rosberg. “We needed to just start from scratch to make these songs happen. It was a big catharsis for us; it was needed.”
The parties split on friendly terms. “But of course it’s been a lot to cope with, having one less member, and one person less in the artistic process,” the guitarist continues. “It’s a big change, but it feels good.”
The roots of Gaupa (“lynx” in Swedish) are in their 2018 self-titled debut EP, released a year after they formed. The members were in other bands, but Gaupa presented an opportunity to try something new.
“We were just like, ‘Let’s meet up in a cellar and just play some rock,’” Rosberg explains. “Wveryone was like, ‘Yeah! Let’s play some rock!’ But when we came together it was suddenly exploding and there were songs coming out.”
Gaupa is a melting pot of styles and influences; Rosberg says he and Hurtig bring heavy prog inspiration from the likes of Opeth and Meshuggah, while Sävström is a “multi-faceted punk rock bassist.” He adds: “And Emma’s just out there flying, soaring between the base camps.
“Progressive, to me, means you’re exploring something – using music to create a journey. It doesn’t have to be about odd meters or those kind of things. To us, the progressive element has always been, ‘Let’s see what happens if we go that way’ instead of going the conventional way.
Rosberg uses his pedalboard to further tap into the experimental ethos. It’s so gargantuan that, with 15 or so pedals already involved, there’s no space for more. “I love ambient parts also – I can use the guitar to make big, atmospheric, feedbacky sounds and stuff like that.
“Feedback is one of my main ways of expressing myself as a guitarist because it’s so alive. You can control it, but you also can’t control it. Atmosphere and ambience is an important part of our artistic exploration.”
On their fourth release, signed to Nuclear Blast and able to tour to acclaim internationally, it’s a long way from the basement sessions of the late 2010s. One of their songs has nearly five million plays on Spotify. Impressive stuff – but you get the feeling there’s more to come.
“I didn’t have any expectation at all. One gig is more than I expected!” Sävström says. “I thought we’d have fun and write some music together; the rest of it’s a bonus.”
Rosberg notes: “I’ve been in so many bands and I have so many friends in bands. You always really feel like you’re creating something new – but maybe you’re just another generic band doing something that’s already been done. Gaupa felt different from the other bands I’d been in. There was some connection that went in a different direction.”
Fyr is on sale now via Nuclear Blast.
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