Christian Kjellvander - Wild Hxmans (2018)

This one's quite different from what I usually review on Blasting Days, but so far it's the album that made the strongest impression on me this year. Really. Christian Kjellvander (from Sweden) already impressed me a lot, that was with his first album "Songs from a Two-Room Chapel" back in 2002, but then I was disapointed by his second album (although it's good, but after the tour de force of the first I had big expectations), and I lost track of him. Until I listened to his new album "Wild Hxmans", and whoah! it's maybe even better than "Songs from a Two-Room Chapel", excellent folk-americana with a great voice and vibrant atmospheres. But with "Wild Hxmans" it feels like the music is given another dimension with some brilliant parts that are exploring new directions that could maybe be described as embracing some post-rock/free-rock elements. The music gets heavier, trippier, stronger. (from my exploration on Bandcamp of what he released between his second and latest album those elements are starting to appear on the previous album "A Village : Natural Lights".)
Wild Hxmans is an awesome album and I can't recommend it too much.

The Bandcamp page