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Simon Steensland — Explosion of Bad Music
(Bandcamp áMARXE no #, 2026, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-08-28

Explosion of Bad Music Cover art

For over three decaded and nearly a dozen albums, Swedish composer and multi-instrumentalist Simon Steensland has been an irregular and unpredictable entity on the progressive music scene, his music embracing elements of symphonic, rock, folk, avant-garde, minimalist, maximalist, and everything in between; some may call it avant-progressive, although I believe it’s closer to classical music executed on mostly electric instruments (at least where it has evolved to at this point), sometimes with choral voices, as his latest Explosion of Bad Music bears out. During that time he has been on a number of different labels: Musea, APM, UAE, AltrOck, Ipecac, Transubstans, and now áMARXE. The album cosists of two long-form pieces, “Not Dragon” and “Dragon,” clocking in at 27 and 26 minutes respectively, both containing parts with wordless choral voices, and a large ensembles of thirteen and nine members each, with a few familiar names among them (Elaine di Falco, Mike Johnson, Morgan Ågren), and for these two pieces, Steensland does not play any instruments, instead limiting his role to composer, arranger, recordist, mixer, and producer. With “Not Dragon,” Steensland takes the ensemble very close to a vivid and powerful mash-up of classical symphonic rock with choral elements featuring drums, keyboards, electronics, trumpet, accordion, clarinet, bass clarinet, and no less than nine vocalists, ending up — at least occasionally — somewhere near the work of Carl Orff or mid-70s Magma, while at other times presenting a unique and wildly adventurous sound. It’s hard not to appreciate the beauty and chaos presented side by side within this composition. After a brief quiet interlude mid-piece, it comes marching back steadily into the unhinged manic disorder that brought it on. “Dragon” uses a similar sound palette with added violin, and takes the listener into an even stranger world, with keyboards using a marimba patch on several of the parts, and a leaner compliment of singers. The Bandcamp page states that Explosion of Bad Music is the conclusion of the trilogy that began with A Farewell to Brains (2015) and Let’s Go to Hell (2021), both of which are exceptional. Can’t wait to hear what comes next.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Morgan Ågren, Elaine Di Falco, Simon Steensland, Mike Johnson

More info
http://amarxe.bandcamp.com/album/explosion-of-bad-music

 

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