Arbogast

Too Proud To Stick to Winners (Rockbov)
by Scott Hefflon

Only in Sweden… Arbogast is basically one guy, Svante Widerström, with a little help from his friend(s). Yet the breadth of styles and influences are impressive, and not in a “this is our calypso song, and next is our metal song” way. The tones are warm, the guitarwork is solid yet not flashy. There’s something a little something Country/small-town/y’all about the vocal inflection, and it’s really kinda nice. Kinda like Billy Bragg (or John Mellencamp), there’s just something honest and sincere about the voice/presentation, and that helps cover for the fact that I’m really not sure what a lot of these songs are about.

The name’s based on the detective in Psycho, it’s a one-man show, and I don’t know the geography of Sweden enough to know if Alingsås is a metropolis of rock’n’roll posers, or is it’s a small, tight-knit community (I’m obviously guessing the latter), but they’ve produced at least one musician/songwriter worth watching.

Oh, and great artwork, too.
(www.arbogast.se)