Taking it easy with no limits

Gustav Ejstes (left) and Dungen use old instruments to create a distinctive sound.

"I am a 26-year-old male from Sweden that has been doing music as Dungen [pronounced Doon-Yen] since 1998," laughs Gustav Ejstes. "And before that I was younger. But I've done music my entire life and I listen to lots of different types of music."

He is the brains behind the Swedish act whose latest album, Ta Det Lugnt [pronounced Tar-Dee-Loonched], translates as "take it easy" which sums up Ejstes and his music pretty well.

"We take it easy in terms of there being no limits to what you can do with music. There's no stupid rules," he cackles.

The album is a weird and wonderful trip - mixing prog, folk and catchy pop songs with waves of psychedelic rock.

Although Dungen is Ejstes' baby, on tour the group is a four piece and they play the Kings Arms in Auckland on Tuesday night.

Ejstes grew up in the village of Lanna in the Vastergotland region. His father was a fiddle player and introduced Ejstes to Swedish folk music.

"When we were kids my father wanted his boys to play fiddle, and we did that, but then I heard Public Enemy when I was 11 and I said [expletive] off," he laughs.

Throughout his teens he was into hip-hop and sample-based music but decided to ditch the sampler in favour of making those same sounds with real instruments. He learned the guitar, drums, bass, keyboards and is pretty handy on the flute, which took him six weeks to learn while still at school.

"I lost a girlfriend and my school work was bad but I learned to play the flute okay," he says.

He also picked up the fiddle again when he was 20.

"I've always had that feeling that when I hear something I want to do it myself. For example, now, I've been doing a lot of scratching and mixing with turntable music. I'm still fascinated with hip-hop and I want to know how they do it. So I just learn stuff and that's what keeps me learning new instruments."

His interest in different styles of music and sounds comes through in Dungen's music, yet it doesn't sound anything like hip-hop or folk. It sounds like nothing else you're ever likely to hear.

"Some people say they can hear [Swedish folk music] in the harmonies and the vibe but I don't think so myself," he says.

In 2000 Ejstes moved from Stockholm to his mother's farm "out in the woods" where he did manual work during the day and music at night.

"There's a lot of different things that make music in life," he says, "and it's not just about where you are, but also about where you are in your head and I wanted to be at the farm.

"I don't know why, maybe I could have done it in Stockholm, and I make music when I'm there, but this music [Ta Det Lugnt] was made in the woods. I moved there with all the instruments I needed and it was the perfect place to get isolated to create music."

Even though Ta Det Lugnt was recorded digitally, it has a warmth and authenticity you don't hear in many recordings now.

"It's a sound that I like and I have to have that sound. It's not an accident. But we have old instruments and that is important. That's probably why it sounds old."

Often, like on the eight-minute epic, Du E For Fin For Mig, the music also sounds like it was inspired by an altered state of consciousness, put simply: drugs. "I have no comment," laughs Ejstes. "No, actually," he says seriously, "I don't take any more drugs than anybody else. It's not the main thing and music is the drug. And I can make music without drugs."

And yes, he does sing in Swedish, but even though you might not understand what he is talking about don't let that put you off.

"The lyrics are important but when I listen to music, like in rap music for example, the lyrics are rhythmic. So the vocals are just another instrument. And when we're travelling, a lot of people don't know what I'm singing about, but it really doesn't matter."

Just take it easy.

What: Dungen

Where: Kings Arms, Auckland

When: Tuesday, July 25