Lucifer ii

The album was recorded in the summer of 2017 at Nicke’s studio The Honk Palace, in Stockholm, Lucifer II was very much a labour of love that enabled Johanna and her new musical partner to develop a strong creative bond. With no time to recruit new band members, Nicke performed the drums, bass and half of the guitar parts himself, with lead guitarist Robin Tidebrink eventually adding his distinctive six-string flair to the tracks.

Although still recognisable as the band that released Lucifer I in 2015, Lucifer II is a very different beast from its predecessor. A celebratory riot of none-more-classic riffing, soaring vocal soul and countless ingenious psychedelic embellishments, it amounts to a black-hearted paean to the chaotic disintegration of the hippie dream; full of goosebump-inducing dynamics, anthemic choruses and moments of freewheeling acid rock abandon. Veering from instant sing-alongs like turbo-rumbling opener California Sun to the moodier, bluesier strains of Reaper On Your Heels and the prog-tinged grandeur and lysergic flair of closing brace Faux Pharaoh, it’s the sound of a band that have reached a sublime point of compositional equilibrium.

Music’s transformative power has led to many great sonic wonders over the decades: Lucifer II is one such marvel, the sound of a great rock’n’roll band mutating and expanding into something unique and extraordinary.