Ultimamente, quando inserisco questo disco nel lettore, appare, sul display dello stereo, una scritta lampeggiante che dice "Noo bastaaa, ti pregooo..."
In effetti ci sarebbe di che lamentarsi, dato che sono 3 anni consecutivi che questo disco gira nell'aria ovattata della mia camera con una media da record.

Sul sito dei Kent c'è scritto "site of the greatest Sweden rock band".
Ora, io non credo che siano la migliore rock band svedese in assoluto, però non c'è dubbio sulla validità dei loro dischi: introspettivi, taglienti, malinconici, ma anche polemici, arrabbiati… con stile.

Hagnesta Hill è la naturale e precisa evoluzione di Isola.
E, come Isola, è cantato tutto in inglese dalla stupenda voce di Joakim Berg, sempre eccelso nell'esprimere a parole le proprie sensazioni più nascoste traducendole in una lingua non sua.
Rispetto al lavoro precedente, il suono è diventato più complesso e meno definito: vale a dire, più riverberi e suoni d'atmosfera (vedi varie ballate tra cui la stupenda Quiet Heart) e anche una buona dose di elettronica, (Cowboys, Whistle Song) senza però mai eccederne.
Non si può assolutamente classificare questo disco elettronico, anche se, come appena detto una piccola svolta in quella direzione c'è stata.
In alcuni tratti è palese il voler arrivare ai Depeche Mode dei primi '90 sia a parole, "I tried to make you a believer / But you're not a receiver" (Whistle Song), sia con un sound impostato su basi ritmiche fine anni ottanta che, mischiate alle nuove sonorità di oggi e ad alcuni riff azzeccati, creano qualcosa di fortemente orecchiabile (Just Like Money).

Ma, la svolta e la vera chiave d'ascolto del disco sta nei brani più lenti (Kevlar Soul, Rollercoaster, Stop Me June), che rimandano alle migliori ballad fatte dagli Smashing Pumpkins (periodo Adore), dove campionamenti-drum machine-4 accordi di chitarra suonati bene creano una piccola opera d'arte.
Nei testi e nelle note riusciamo a trovare il classico freddo silenzioso a cui la band ci aveva introdotto nel '98, più una voglia pazzesca di gridare un bisogno d'amore spaventoso (per scrivere roba del genere credo che il cantante si sia fatto lasciare tre o quattro volte...).

In definitiva: album meno scarno di Isola e più completo.
Potrebbe piacere a chi piacciono le seguenti band: Depeche Mode, Interpol, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead (The Bends).

Elenco tracce e testi

01   The King Is Dead (04:16)

Thin december air is like the dry ice smoke
You'll come to your senses or inhale and
choke
My IQ allows me to brush you aside
You're zeros and ones, you're wrong where
I'm right

Now, the tyrant is dead and his lady is free
I am going ahead with the reinvention of me
Now the king lies here dead, now the king
lies here dead

It's not as wet as the rain or
as cold as the snow
It drives him in hard to the sane and the
simple soul

I take a charge at my chance
you know how it is
Let go of my hand
you know how it is

Now, the tyrant is dead and his lady is free
I am going ahead with the reinvention of me

And my IQ allows me to brush you aside

Now, the tyrant is dead and his lady is free
I am going ahead with the reinvention of me
Now the king lies here dead, now the king
lies here dead

02   Revolt III (03:10)

Svagt s� skakar mina ben
Och flickan med TV-nerver ler
Som om jag bryr mig!
S�nk mitt hj�rta som en sten
Ge mig en k�ftsm�ll jag �r feg

Som om jag bryr mig
S� �kar vi igen
Jag �r fartblind, kriminell
Du �r aktuell, du br�nns
Som om jag bryr mig!
Som om jag bryr mig!

Jag har alltid varit klen
S� ge mig Revolt I, II och III

Som om jag bryr mig
S� �kar vi igen
Jag �r fartblind, kriminell
Du �r aktuell, du br�nns
Som om jag bryr mig!
Som om jag bryr mig!

Som om jag bryr mig!
Som om jag bryr mig!

03   Music Non Stop (04:34)

Everybody gets a second in the sun
I have a feeling mine has just begun
Music non stop when I close my eyes
Clarity born from a compromise
And you are almost like me

So why don't you dance to the music
I hear inside my head
Why don't you dance to the music
It's the soundtrack for the end

I'm looking for a place to lie in wait
I quit my job to find a perfect fate
Music non stop when I close my eyes
I need some time alone I found a carpark that is home
You're almost like me

So why don't you dance to the music
I hear inside my head
Why don't you dance to the music
It's the soundtrack for the end

Everybody gets a second in the sun
I have a feeling mine has just begun
Music non stop when I close my eyes
Clarity born from a compromise
And you're almost like me

So why don't you dance to the music
I hear inside my head
Why don't you dance to the music
It's the soundtrack for the end

So why don't you dance to the music
I hear inside my head
Why don't you dance to the music
It's the soundtrack for the end

04   Kevlar Soul (04:26)

Summertime
Summertime
I'm the silence as the wind blows
My land is your land we are free
If you listen close you hear my teardrops fall

My dream is yours
I have time on my side
Chorus:
Making diamonds of coal
She put a hole, through my kevlarsoul
and my heart slowly dies
She put a hole, through my kevlarsoul
It gets lonely and cold

Summertime
I am violence as the rain falls
My land is my land only mine
If I listen close I hear your teardrops fall
Summertime
ChorusYour dream is mine

05   Stop Me June (Little Ego) (06:22)

06   Heavenly Junkies (04:04)

I saw a film
future visions of now
They changed the end
cause they always do somehow
Saw you tonight
for the first time in years
Crushed and thin
but your guardian angel's with you
judging by the way you walk

And I get a feeling
it wasn't that easy
Keeping a place like that
forever you fool me
you're a heavenly junkie
We live in the dreams you had
I get a feeling
It wasn't that easy
to be who you were

I saw a film
about the violence in men
I press rewind
Take it frame by frame again
Saw you tonight
life still danced in your eyes
You're creased and lined
but your guardian angel's with you
judging by the way you talk

07   Stay With Me (03:56)

08   Cowboys (05:46)

Jag drömde om
En barndomsvän igår
Som telenäten drömmer
Om svalorna i vår
Jag vaknade av bruset
Från maskiner i djup sömn
Jag vaknade så lycklig
Över att äntligen ha drömt

Hon vinkar genom ett fönster
Hennes mun är som ett sår
Så går hjärtat mitt sönder
Det har varit ett ensamt år
Jag ska aldrig ignorera dig igen
Jag ska aldrig nånsin glömma hur det känns
Mina nyårslöften

Jag filmar nu
Stora känslor stora ord
Men allt av vikt jag säger
Har jag stulit ur en bok
Jag läste nåt om kyssar
Nånting som alla vet
Men som dom aldrig lyckas fånga
I filmerna man ser

Hon vinkar genom ett fönster
Hennes mun är som ett sår
Så går hjärtat mitt sönder
Det har varit ett ensamt år
Jag ska aldrig ignorera dig igen
Jag ska aldrig ignorera kärleken
Mina nyårslöften

09   Protection (04:46)

10   Rollercoaster (04:47)

11   We Need to Eat (04:25)

12   Whistle Song (07:56)

There is something in her eyes
that's making me scared
It's clinging to my shirt now
like static in her hair
And something here is wrong
I heard it when she spoke
Her dust flows through my veins now
and I'm yesterday�s joke

chorus:
And it seems impossible to meet her simple needs
She breathes invincible
and it's giving me the creeps
She's still the wild one here, the incendiary soul
She is in flame and I am cold
god I'm getting old

She is talking through a yawn
and the radio is on
I listen through the thin walls
and someone's whistling along
There is something in the air
Squeezing out sparks
The striplight flickers and then dies
and leaves us in the dark

chorus

And I'd make you a believer
But you're not a receiver
And you're now a believer
And you're not a receiver
And I'll make you a believer
But you're not a receiver
And I'll make you a believer
But you're not a receiver
And I'll make you a believer
But you're not a receiver
Yeah I'll make you a believer
Because you're not a receiver

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