Ef - I Am Responsible
[And The Sound Records]

It’s a fickle world out there, none more so than in the music industry. Literally millions of bands jostle for a couple of meagre seconds of our attention, yet most of us view MySpace friend requests as an annoyance rather than an opportunity to investigate a potentially exciting group. No, these days it isn’t enough for bands to just tap us on our shoulders, they’ve got to hit us with a sledgehammer.

It’s refreshing, therefore, to come across Gothenburg-based quintet Ef, a band completely unconcerned with such trivial matters. For them it is all about the music, they’re confident in their own craft to know that people will come flocking to them and not the other way round. With compositions that breach the double figure mark in running time, Ef’s music is more like passages from a movie score or a section from some classical movement. About as far away as possible you can get from the quick-fix nature of the music world.

With six tracks featured over an hour’s worth of music on “I Am Responsible”, Ef take time to develop each piece, transcending varying degrees of texture and emotion. An eclectic range of instrumentation benefits them too, as they adeptly sway between brass and string orchestration, while their triple guitar attack reminds of the sonic assault of “The Bends” era Radiohead.

They may borrow stylistically, everyone from the aforementioned Radiohead, through to Explosions in the Sky and Sigur Ros is visited, but Ef are, by no means, generic copyists. Their powerful songs soar from ground-level contemplation to skyscraping exhilaration, often absorbing tsunami-sized orchestral majesty, moody hues and stunning tranquility. Frontman, Claes Stranberg can also be found manning the microphone with fellow Swedes immanu el, but his role in Ef is quite different. His style here is less obvious, his vocals form part of the overall picture rather than being the focal point of the music.

Time and time again, Ef proves to be an impeccably talented bunch of musicians on this album. Closing number “A Tailpiece” is simply breath-taking journeying from Godspeed-like depths through to soaring Yndi Halda-esque peaks, the shimmering Greenwood inspired guitar textures, in tandem with the swooning orchestration; affirm themselves as the driving force of such a piece. If 2006’s “Give Me Beauty… Or Give Me Strength” was a statement of intent, then on their sophomore release, Ef have come of age. There is an invigorating maturity to the songwriting as they take significant steps in realizing their vision of grandeur.

I Am Responsible Track Listing:

1. Soon
2. Två
3. Bear
4. Thrills
5. Appendix
6. A Tailpiece