Valdsvagen

On Civil Polis's second album, Våldsvågen, a dance of death unfolds: children whirl through violence, mothers try to keep the proverbs in check, a skeleton wakes and sleeps again, and the light at the tunnel’s end is the bleached hair of headless Nikes.

Following last year’s En man utan referenser, this record meets Erik Fichtelius’s idea that a second outing must be ten times stronger to earn the same love. It pushes against W. David Marx’s thesis on the death of subculture with restless energy and forward motion.

There’s no split here between pop and the avant-garde, communication and innovation, yesterday and today. Våldsvågen is a portrait of the present, made in an endless rush and fuelled by the search for a new kind of electricity. The physical edition includes a 28-page booklet created with artist Mathilda Forström.