DEEP CUT: MÅRTEN LÄRKA Bränt barn
Mårten Lärka Bränt barn is available on Spotify, Tidal, Deezer
by Walter Price
Death, despair, disappointment, and morality; are the backbone of any great op song, right? If you’re Mårten Lärka and Company, the answer is, yes. Today’s chilling deep cut is called “Bränt barn” from the ‘Två dagar om året‘ LP—an album inspired by the Swedish author Stig Dagerman‘s truncated yet influential life and works.
For context, Stig Dagerman’s “Bränt barn”, LibraryThing says, “After the international success of his collection of World War II newspaper articles, German Autumn–a book that solidified his status as the most promising and exciting writer in Sweden–Stig Dagerman was sent to France with an assignment to produce more in this journalistic style. But he could not write the much-awaited follow-up. Instead, he holed up in a small French village and in the summer of 1948 created what would be his most personal, poignant, and shocking novel: A Burnt Child [Bränt barn].
“Set in a working-class neighborhood in Stockholm, the story revolves around a young man named Bengt who falls into deep, private turmoil with the unexpected death of his mother. As he struggles to cope with her loss, his despair slowly transforms to rage when he discovers his father had a mistress. But as Bengt swears revenge on behalf of his mother’s memory, he also finds himself drawn into a fevered and conflicted relationship with this woman–a turn that causes him to question his previous faith in morality, virtue, and fidelity.”
The summertime folk-pop vibes on “Bränt barn” feel as if they are beckoning a long contemplative drive through the countryside. Which, I suppose, is no better time to ruminate on the words of such a writer as Dagerman. Lärka and his band of top players make it all so palpable for the causal listener, even those not too interested in getting in too deep, but you will, inevitably.
You can stream the GTC Deep Cut “Bränt barn”, here at the Global Texan.
MÅRTEN LÄRKA Bränt barn
Photo(s) by Joakim Brolin // Quotes via LibraryThing and Wiki
Martin Hellquist: drums, flute, percussion, backing vocals
Lars Ohlsson: bass, backing vocals, piano, synthesizer
Mårten Lärka: vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion
Frida Bergström: backing vocals
Albin Johansson: keyboards
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Dagerman is representative of the Swedish literary movement fyrtiotalism. His works deal with universal problems of morality and conscience, of sexuality and social philosophy, of love, compassion, justice, fear, guilt, and loneliness. Despite the somber content, he also displays a wry sense of humor that occasionally turns his writing into burlesque or satire – Wiki