The Pop Corporation

We’ve talked about our love for Dina Ögon at length before, and now there’s a new LP to talk about, and that’s the salve we needed to kick off 2024’s first new release review.

Again, we find the band in groovy, sophisticated form, melting psychedelic soul, Balearic, dream pop, and something so uniquely their own, that they continue to be quite possibly the finest group on planet Earth right now. There’s a lightness of touch to everything that they do, which allows the music to breathe and allow the listener to completely immerse themselves within it.

From opener ‘Jag Vill Ha Allt’, to ‘Glitter’ and ‘Firad’, we see the band’s special and super heady mix of acid folk and soul, all cut with such a superbly breezy production, that it feels like they’ve collectively been doing this for a million years – there’s not one ounce of fat on the record, and everything manages to feel perfectly in place, yet somehow improvisational at the same time.

Dina Ögon are a rare, rare thing indeed.

There’s more danceable, uptempo moments too for those who want to feel the slap of their Birkenstocks against the soles of their feet. ‘Det Iäcker’ opens initially like an ’80s C90 indie track, before breaking into an irresistibly dream groove with Anna Ahnlund’s vocals weaving in-and-out of the chiming guitars, elastic bass and clicky backbeat. ‘Tomma Iådor’ is almost Middle Eastern-esque, Habibi funk fused with feint bossa nova and Scandi soul – it’s a magical album closer.

However, for our money, ‘Milton’ is the finest example of what Dina Ögon can really do. Ahnlund’s sung melody is so great and unique that it sounds like it can walk on water, with the band grabbing all the swing of John and Beverley Martyn’s ‘Stormbringer’ LP, and moving from major to minor keys before summoning one of the most joyful choruses recorded.

We can’t think of any other band that’s so in the pocket as these at the moment. You imagine that the jazzers will love them, as well as the pop fiends. The dance music fans will be into it as much as the folkies, the soulies as much as hip hop heads, as much as the Tropicalistas and… you get the idea. That’s because this is timeless music and so perfectly formed, that’s is difficult to imagine any scene finding fault.

And if you loved the brilliant ‘Oas’, then ‘Orion’ is easily as good, if not better. It’s little wonder that Dina Ögon are so celebrated, because with every new record, they release a little more magic into the world. While they sound exactly like themselves, it’s the space in the music that allows you to filter each influence – bassist Love Örsan has said previous that “we hear music from all eras and countries”, and sometimes it’s the friction of disparate influences, sometimes it’s the shared common denominators that make the music sound so rich and rewarding.

The echoes of so many different and brilliant things seep into each track, be it feint sounds of Turkish disco, ’60s psychedelia, and pop in it’s purest form – somehow, each member is putting their personality known in each cut, but it all marries together beautifully. The chemistry of this band is perfect and delicately balanced, and if you’re not evangelical about them after listening to them, you might need to hand your ears and heart in to the nearest government depot, because what we’re taking our time in saying is that Dina Ögon are the most perfect band around right now and on this release, they’ve proven it again.