It should no longer be a secret that the best progressive rock music comes from Norway. The Swedes may have invented the blueprint of the genre in the seventies, but their neighbours have let it evolve in all kinds of different directions these last few years. Actionfredag is still a young band, although some of their band members should be known from already well-known bands like Jordsjø and Tusmørke.

The quintet released their debut album Turist I Eget Liv on vinyl and digitally on the small label Hærverk Industrier in 2023, and gets an expanded CD release one year later on the Spanish áMARXE label, exactly on the day Actionfredag released their first single of their upcoming album, which I am really looking forward to after spending some hours with their debut.

Lately it has become kind of fashionable again to dabble in the whimsical Canterbury sound of progressive rock. Bands like Caravan and Hatfield And The North paved the way in the early seventies, and nowadays artists like Zopp and Tom Penaguin pay tribute to their heroes. While Actionfredag also owe a lot to that specific kind of prog, their music contains a lot more influences. The core quintet is joined on the debut album by guest musicians on clarinet, flute, glockenspiel, harp, melodica, violin and vocals, with some of the contributing guests also being known from bands like Panzerpappa and Meer.

This all makes for an incredibly varied sound, which is instrumental most of the time, like the opener Pönk På Svenska, a driving instrumental prog rock song which may have punk in Swedish in its title, but feels more like a fast-paced jazz infused prog promenade. The mature songwriting skills make sure it all stays suspenseful over its six minutes running time. The following En behagelig durakkord som sier noe om hvordan det er å se uten å bli sett (thank the gods or whoever for copy-paste!) is a melancholic, slower paced track, and also one of the few vocal pieces. Gadgetry cum dystopia is another mellower track where especially the guest musicians shine through. Peaches en Ulven shows the band from its more upbeat side. This four minute track, the shortest on the album, might be a reference to the Frank Zappa hit Peaches en Regalia. Jesus i min bod even flirts with math rock, showing that Actionfredag are no stranger to newer music, although later on you can find some King Crimson references. The nine minute long Ensomhet er bare en følelse ends the regular part of the album with a dramatic conclusion, before the simpler titled Tobias ends the expanded edition of the re-release. This six-minute-long instrumental track also has a certain Zappa, or if you like Mats/Morgan vibe, and also stands out by seemingly not having any guest artists featured, making this a more bare-boned showcase of the band’s sound.

If you have always had a special place in your heart for the nerdy sounds of Canterbury, you cannot help yourself falling in love with Actionfredag’s debut album Turist I Eget Liv. It is always said that seventies revival bands cannot be original, but in this case, the sheer number of ideas still make for a very suspenseful listening experience, and like I wrote before, I am really impatiently waiting for the follow-up album.

7 songs

45:51 minutes

***** ****

Genre: progressive rock / Canterbury

Label: áMARXE

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