The whole e-mail thing is getting out of hand. By now I get exponentially more blog mails than work mails, and if I really wanted to, I could probably spend all day wading through promo e-mails without getting any actual writing done for the site.

Still, once I gather enough courage to enter the stream, I do come across some gems occasionally. This one especially caught me off guard: a new band featuring members of three Swedish bands we absolutely adore, Bleak Streak, Nära Döden and Sekunderna. Casually drop that in your message and yes, that’s how you end up at the very top of the listening pile.

Let me introduce Bleka Dödens Minut, a name that sounds suspiciously like a mash-up of those three bands, which is no coincidence. It is also the Swedish title of the movie where this outfit draws inspiration from: Rob Reiner and William Goldman’s 1987 film The Princess Bride. Talk about a concept band. The promo promises stories of naval battles, abysmal heartache, rodents of unusual size, murder, assault and an overdeveloped sense of revenge. Sounds like a lot to squeeze into four songs (of which one is an instrumental), but trust me, this EP is worth your time whether you care about the concept or not. If you do want to go all in, the limited cassette on Do You Dream of Noise? is also available with an optional eight-page companion zine explaining the concept and lyrics.

But honestly, forget the whole concept for a second and you’ll find an original and intriguing alt-pop EP that feels like these musicians giving themselves the freedom to try things their other bands don’t. It expands the universe rather than just repeating what already works. I’m hearing horn- and string-like sounds too, though I’m not about to confidently misidentify instruments on the internet.

By the way, the artwork is by Luc Simone, singer of the band that made my favorite record of last year. Jeff Burke mastered the thing too. Really, this EP ending up on the wantlist was inevitable.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp