Rikard Sjoblom's Gungfly "On Her Journey To The Sun"

Fellow progheads, thank you for continuing to come back to the Closet Concert Arena!  This week yet another gem is preparing to emerge from the prog garden; I am privileged to have been asked by Inside Out Records to review the latest release from Rikard Sjoblom's Gungfly.  The band's latest release, "On Her Journey To The Sun" is a limited edition double CD and scheduled for release May 19th.

Learning of the demise of Beardfish was a bitter pill, but from those ashes Rikard has brought forth another stellar prog band taking up residence in the eclectic, free-spirited section of the prog garden. Let us then take the search for all things prog to Sweden and immerse ourselves in the diverse sounds of Rikard Sjoblom's Gungfly.      

My first selection walks a tightrope as it balances a jazzy nightclub sound with earthy overtones, "Old Demons Die Hard."  There are creamy smooth top notes of The Style Council blending with the avant-garde mindset of Frank Zappa on this cut.  Rikard walks you down what is at first perceived as a familiar path only to swerve left, veering into a section of the garden where the temperament tends to fluctuate from upbeat to offbeat.  Gungfly paints using a varied pallet and soft brushes, floating across the canvas like pulled sugar strung in a candy shop.

Digging into a second helping, I am taken by the depth of "The River of Sadness."  The music flows from a calliope-like giddiness to the throes of a melancholy journey across a life beset with unanticipated strife...but all the while there is an air of ease and confidence that belies the title.  An upbeat mood weaves its way through the entire piece, creating a protective aura much like a mother lion guarding her cubs.  Rikard  toys with your emotions as he sails deeper down the river...

Liner Notes...Rikard is originally from Gavle, Sweden and started on his musical journey at the age of five. Fast forward--if that's possible--through a career that spans several bands, band mates, line-up changes past and present, and thus we reach the culmination that is  Gungfly.  In addition to Rikard Sjoblom playing guitars, keyboards, and singing lead vocals,  Gungfly consists of David Zackrisson on guitar, Rasmus Diamant on bass, Sverker Magnusson and Martin Borgh on keyboards, and Petter Diamant on drums.

Rikard performed and wrote with Beardfish and Gungfly simultaneously, at first using Gungfly as an outlet for music which didn't quite within the vast parameters of the Beardfish section of the prog garden...although Beardfish tilled acreage across such a vast expanse of the garden it is difficult to imagine much they would not dabble in...

My third serving from what truly is a remarkable spread this week is "Polymixia," an eleven-minute escape from all that is wrong with the world.  The song opens as if I have stumbled into a third dimension jam session; Rikard makes use of the keyboards and then some on this piece as he waltzes through your mind pinball-like...lights flashing, score climbing, and your mind just this side of "tilt." The other side of my eyelids are exploding with an array of color Crayola was not able to fit into their box of 64...you are left not so much breathless as awed.

The album is scheduled for release on Inside Out Music May 19th and pre-orders are available at
Rikard Sjoblom Gungfly and InsideOut Music.  You can follow Rikard on Facebook as well at
Rikard Sjoblom FB.  For serious fans you can keep up with Rikard, Gungfly, and all the bands and their newest/latest releases on the  Inside Out Music label on Twitter @InsideOutUSA.

To motivate you just a bit and get you in that "gotta buy the music" mood, I offer you the title cut below.  This is Rikard being Rikard; relaxed and pouring out his personal and emotional best while you get to sit back, relax, and enjoy.  When the last of the 2017 sand falls through the hourglass and the inevitable "best of" lists are written, compiled, argued over, and dissected, this is one album that should make most lists and cause the least fights...

One more week spent in the prog garden is one more week of pure bliss, and spending it listening to Gungfly made it all the better.  Rikard Sjoblom does not miss a step; his mental agility and acute insight into the inner workings of the mind make "On Her Journey To The Sun" all the more hypnotic.  This is an album that needs to breathe...and once unleashed will fill your headphones--and the room--with a plethora of sights and sounds.

Inside Out Music has more new prog releases on the horizon, so the journey continues...the  search for all things prog just got more adventurous...until next time...