Written: 19th January 2025
Swedish singer songwriter Jonathan Hultén is not an artist bound by the convention trappings of a particular genre. The former member of gothic metal band Tribulation now operates within a sound and aesthetic he describes as “Ambient Dream-grunge,” he produces contemplative music that beckons listeners into his realm of wistful verse. He draws on an eclectic mix of influences including blues, film scores, electronica, and the works of illustrators such as Tove Jansson and Yoshitaka Amano.
Despite Hultén’s own description of his work, there is little similarity on new album Eyes of the Living Night to those bands of the 1990s from a musical aspect. However, regarding his examination of themes such as isolation, relationships and self-doubt, there are some similarities to be found, albeit he aims to suggest ways to counteract all of these issues across the album.
Explaining the meaning of his new album’s title, he states, “Eyes of the Living Night is about reawakening a sense of awe and wonder in one's perception of the world, finding imagination to be a key to breaking free from the wheels of stagnation and to rediscover hidden treasures within the depths of one's mind. To plunge into the abyss of your own fears and anxieties and to emerge on the other side, transformed by the experience. The "living night" as a concept symbolizes the mystery and hidden creative potential we all carry.”
Opening track The Saga and The Storm wastes no time in establishing the atmospheres Hultén aims to create. Floating, inviting synths and a delicate keyboard motif take the lead before Hultén’s ethereal voice begins his tale of the cyclical nature of life’s highs and lows. Saga of unending dreams / Songs of humanity / Tales of our journey through time / Adventures and myths taking form / Deep in our hearts’ abyss / A maelstrom of horrors and hope. Reflecting this lyrical exploration of the duality of despair and hope, the intricate and precise layering of synths, guitars and voice somehow manages to be simultaneously melancholic and optimistic. Combining elements of dream-pop, ambient music and restrained rock guitar – the solo is a thing of beauty – Hultén is able to conjure a world of dreamlike wonderings that serve as the perfect invitation to explore the rest of the album.
This soul-searching journey continues on Afterlife during which, in which Hultén’s words, “Your soul is pulled into the underworld, thrust into a labyrinth with no option but to navigate its cold corridors. Haunted by its ghostly inhabitant intent on draining your life energy, you must press forward.” While such descriptions sound deeply mournful, there is an inherent positivity to the music and as listeners, we never succumb to dark feelings of inevitability. Within every negative emotion explored during Afterlife (and indeed the entire album), Hultén encourages us to find a way through, see the positives and celebrate what is true and good. There is something incredibly engaging in how his voice seems to inhabit the layers of instruments themselves rather than simply glide above them. Background vocals and harmonies are used with great elegance and as synths ebb and flow with rapid arpeggios, our spirits are lifted. Confirming that life might not be easy but that we do not always know where it might take us, Hultén talks more about Afterlife, “While going through this trial, you also discover hidden treasures along the way—important emotions and insights—that help guide you on your path through the seemingly endless night. When you finally reach the burning candle at the heart of the labyrinth, you realize that all along you were on a quest to find all those hidden treasures, and that they actually were things you had once lost—namely, parts of yourself.”
Falling Mirages – a track which delves into the importance of even painful truths in the development and strength of a relationship – has a child-like, nursery rhyme type quality to the keyboards. Coupled with Hultén’s slightly echoing vocal and gentle acoustic guitars, we are drawn further into a gothic folk world in which it would be easy to lose one’s thoughts amongst the oneiric auras. On Riverflame, his fascinating use of instruments continues as muted piano haunts the periphery of the track while his voice is more to the forefront on this meditation on life’s transience and the importance of living fully and joyously. Phase after phase, worlds change / Bring out your soul / Before death’s door / Dance while you can. Such is the unhurried disposition of Hultén’s music that although to lose yourself within it, he gives listeners time to contemplate and reflect upon every word.
The Dream Was The Cure steps up the tempo and bright acoustic guitar is joined by the most vibrant (albeit not thunderous by any means) percussion on the album thus far. Hultén’s vocal still sits slightly within the mix rather than above it but his passionate delivery means that we are swept along with him. Lyrically we are encouraged to awaken to our own inherent creativity and embrace our imaginative potential, breaking free of the monotonous and confining routines of daily life. We are all living human beings / Through our mind we are born with wings / In our own ways we are all creating / We build and weave reality. While the first four tracks on the album are all wonderfully structured, The Dream Was The Cure is well placed, bringing a completely different feel to the album, shaking us from our reflective reveries. Although different in style, for some reason, it reminds me of the way Mike Oldfield structured his songs during the eighties.
Song Of Transience, waltz-like in composition and time signature, is a deceptively simple piece with lyrics largely formed from the questions we might ask ourselves at the end of our lives but maybe should be thinking about far earlier. More plaintive, the tick-tock background draws our attention to passing time. Allowing us to draw our own conclusions, Through the Fog, Into The Sky is a delightful piano based instrumental that initially conjures images of crystalline lakes and waterfalls before we ascend to the clouds looking down at the world from the safety of the sky, allowing us to see everything that is wonderful about the world. Verdant and pastoral, it would be easy to imagine Kate Bush producing something of this nature on her later albums.
Dawn allows Hultén to display his capabilities in allowing a song to develop and blossom across its length. It slowly grows brighter and increasingly layered, like the change from dawn to day that it describes. His use of vocals is intoxicating and his control of his higher range is exquisite. Bringing further variety, it would be easy to imagine the folk tinged Vast Tapestry being sung by a cowboy in the old west sitting round a fire. With the feeling of travel weaved within the rhythm, it portrays the journey of life that we all encounter. As the album draws to an end, Hultén continues to play with the use of different instruments as electric guitars are used as an acoustic might be, creating a sense of controlled power. The Ocean’s Arms has the feeling of potential vastness and it never fully explodes as might be suggested by its rhythms. In some ways it would have been interesting to see where he would have taken the track had it done so.
A short violin and guitar based instrumental A Path Is Found serves as a link between The Ocean’s Arms and final track Starbather. Undoubtedly influenced by The Beatles (an inspiration Hultén clearly references in the press notes for the album), it begins with what feels like a comfortably familiar piano motif. The guitar and percussive flourishes across the track continue to bring The Fab Four to mind but there is enough of Hultén’s own DNA intertwined for it to not simply fall into pastiche. It ends the album with a portrayal of an individual who finds solace and guidance in looking to the heavens at night, the rejuvenating energy of the sun and the possibility of each day renewing our mind and spirit.
Reflecting on Eyes of the Living Night as a whole, it would be easy to put such music on in the background, letting it simply linger in the ether. Gaining the most from this album means committing time to investigate the subtle layering, nuances and uplifting vocal inflections, together with the deep lyrical themes. It will appeal to fans of ambient music, dream-pop, more reflective electronica, gothic folk and even some fans of post-rock. The album is all of those things but never only one of them. With Eyes Of The Living Night, Jonathan Hultén, in a place far removed from his time in bands such as Tribulation, has created not only a fascinating and enthralling album but an immersive experience to be savoured. Dive into the living night…
Eyes of the Living Night is released on 31st January 2025
Follow Jonathan Hultén:
Comments