On The Verge

Mattias Hellberg and The White Moose

Gothenburg, Sweden
Fjord Jammers
www.myspace.com/mattiashellberg

Though its native Sweden has a rich psychedelic tradition going back to Träd, Gräs, Och Stenar, Mattias Hellberg and The White Moose might be Gothenberg’s first legit jamband. “I was sick of the singer/songwriter thing, the alternative country scene [here]—and I was part of it,” sighs the 36-year-old Hellberg, a fixture on Sweden’s stages since the mid-‘90s. “I wanted to make music that was more party-going. More fun.” Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Woods, the band’s basement-recorded debut, burbles with a party-going boogie (and is topped with a picture of Hellberg astride a white moose, grazing amid Allman Brothers Band-like mushrooms). Though Hellberg has an impressive constellation of reference points—his Moonbeam Moozy DJ sets include Captain Beefheart demos, Nigerian funk and ‘60s psych-soul—the White Moose is an old-school, innocent jamband soiree. With sweet Hammond organ, pre-disco hippie-funk, mini-epics and inviting, stupid lyrics, Hellberg has found a back door to a random Friday night at New York’s Wetlands club in 1991 (or so). “The music we do is not that big in Sweden,” shrugs Hellberg, who feels more kinship to Swedish mega-stars (and high school buddies) Soundtrack of Our Lives, whom he occasionally subs with. But, then, white moose are rare anywhere. www.myspace.com/mattiashellberg