(under the pseudonym Lawrence Henning), the film is set in the idyllic region of Dalarna. The plot centers on a group of villagers celebrating Midsummer who stumble upon an ancient Viking horn.
– A nine-minute opus. Opens with field recordings of actual church bells and distant thunder. Then, a minimalist synthesizer pulse, like Terry Riley on a budget. The nyckelharpa weaves in and out, and halfway through, a drum kit enters with a heavy, almost krautrock beat. The horn section returns, playing a fanfare that feels both triumphant and melancholic. This track alone justifies the album’s cult status.
Ragnarök (Sweden), Älgarnas Trädgård, Popol Vuh, early Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Comus, or any music that sounds like a midsummer night’s dream gone slightly psychedelic.
In the lush, bucolic landscape of 1970s Sweden, a film was born that would become a permanent, if eyebrow-raising, fixture of national pop culture. Fäbodjäntan (1978), internationally known as Come and Blow the Horn
The late 1970s marked a turbulent yet creatively fertile era for Swedish cinema, situated squarely in the era of "sexploitation"—a genre where the lines between serious filmmaking and pornography were often blurred. Amidst the wave of films that sought to capitalize on the liberal attitudes toward sexuality in Sweden, Fäbodjäntan (released internationally as Come Blow the Horn and sometimes referred to as The Milkmaid ) stands as a fascinating artifact. Produced in 1978, the film is a distinct blend of the "folk film" tradition and the erotic drama, resulting in a work that is arguably more atmospheric and narratively coherent than many of its contemporaries.
