Sweden’s Tengil are a young band who had already sown well in the recent past with a full length that was very well received as a title, but judging by the outcome of this new Shouldhavebeens their evolution seems something unpredictably unstoppable. Post-rock, shoegaze and a post-hardcore and noise component, all come together in a sonic jumble, sometimes crystal clear like spring water, sometimes restless and murky as if to take away the listener’s certainty. In reality, it is precisely this contrast between light and shade, between lightness and a sense of oppression, that represents the conceptual and musical engine of a splendid work, capable of moving, exalting and making one think: after all, the title that refers to “what could have been” is a bit the leitmotif in the existence of each, destined to become more and more pressing as the time available decreases in an inescapable way, if then, certain mental elaborations are produced by minds as young and fresh as those of these musicians, imagine the impact that all this can have in the most sensitive subjects with a few more decades of life at the end. Better not to look back, in the end, and try to live every moment as if it were destined to last forever: Tengil’s music can be of great help, because a wonderful song like It’s All For Springtime is just the tip of the iceberg of a work that surpasses in intensity a reference point for Tengil such as Alcest, compared to whom melancholy is exhibited in a much less direct way. And The Best Was Yet To Come is another episode that impresses for its urgency and communicative power, with the excellent Sakarias Westman (whose timbre often reminds me of the young Bono) giving his singing that emotional and interpretative quid that makes the difference. Shouldhavebeens is a transversal work by definition, with the potential to garner acclaim and attention from many quarters, as required by such a clear-cut display of talent.

2018 – Prophecy Productions