In the music business, as with nature, it's the most flexible artists who survive the longest. Swedish keyboardist and vocalist Hans Lundin has proven a stream of steadiness since the Kaipa re-union in 2002 after a hiatus of twenty years. With their ninth studio album, he now enters the third stage with his exceptional progressive band with an unbridled joy of playing being the most important part of it.

"This probably was the most relaxed and joyful recording session in which I had ever participated", raves Hans Lundin about working on the new Kaipa record 'Angling Feelings'. The album actually conveys this impression too, especially when it comes to the traditional Kaipa trademarks such as the band's infatuation with melody, powerful rock and Swedish folk leanings not to mention the 'flowing complexities', which have become a staple on the last few albums - this suddenly lets you sit up again and take notice.
The opening title track offers up artful rhythms mixed with Swedish folk elements in 5/4 timing with such vigorousness that it sends shivers down the listener's spine, quite a rare experience for long-time prog fans. This continues on many of the ten new tracks.

Lundin makes no bones about the fact that his split with his former long-time companion Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), set free a new power within the band, "When I started to write new songs, I was afraid of a creative hole, but then it seems as if the fog thinned out and in less than three months most of the songs were completed. I had allowed the music to go its own way, so to speak. Sometimes this was to adopt unexpected courses, or simply at places where it made sense. I wanted to write progressive music but not necessarily in the traditional sense. The result can be obviously best described as progressive fusion folk rock".

Per Nilsson took Stolt's place as guitarist on the new album. Nilsson, an old friend of Lundin's, has received previous acclaim with his metal band Scar Symmetry. His work here blows fresh wind into Kaipa's cosmos without drawing at all on his musical past. "Working with him is much fun", says Lundin. "Per is not only a very skilled musician like all of the Kaipa members, he is also very open minded and doesn't shy away from trying out new or unexpected things. For instance, he doubled a few guitar parts on the album which led to some really special sound structures, such as with the fast melody at the beginning of 'Solitary Pathway'. I hadn't written this for guitar and I didn't believe that it could work. But just for fun I asked him to play the melody, and the outcome is absolutely convincing".

So thanks to Nilsson, the rock factor in Kaipa's music now manifests itself much stronger. "However", laughs Lundin "That's also because nobody kept me from bringing in my dirty, distorted keyboard sounds this time". As for the stronger folk element on "Angling Feelings", Ritual's Fredrik Lindquist is responsible. Lundin asked the multi-instrumentalist to contribute a few whistle parts.

Kaipa's other collaborators Patrik Lundström, Aleena, Morgan Ågren, and Jonas Reingold (The Flower Kings, The Tangent) all perform to an exceptionally higher level than ever before, as can best be heard on the longer tracks 'The Fleeting Existence Of Time' and 'Path Of Humbleness'. The main lyrical thread running through this album refers to the ideal of taking one's time for the little things of life and learning to relax ('Rest in the Corner of a Second', and the title track). It seems this theme has also rubbed off onto the album's collaborators so that 'Angling Feelings' has become a fantastic listening experience on all levels.

Official biography: http://www.insideout.de