Moon Safari is an immensely talented progressive rock band from Sweden, but neither their formidable musical abilities nor the label of progressive rock should scare off potential listeners. The band’s sound is original and highly pleasing in its blend of folk, classic rock, progressive, and even pop elements.

Just as a means of comparison that is in no way meant to pigeonhole this highly original group of musicians, I’d suggest that their appeal combines that of some of the more-sanguine, less-grand and somber progressive rock groups of the past, such as Argent, Flash, Happy the Man, and Mike Oldfield, with the complex but appealing instrumental textures of bands such as Visible Wind, Discipline, and Harmonium, along with melodic folk-rock textures reminiscent of Loggins and Messina, Bo Hansson, and the brilliant English band The Amazing Blondel.

These comparisons are meant only as  suggestive of some of the musical strands from which Moon Safari draws; the band is not imitative or derivative in any way. You really must hear it for yourself.

Moon Safari’s first two albums—Doorway to Summer and Blomjud—are among the very best progressive rock albums of the past decade, and the band’s latest, Lover’s End, is of similar quality. This album, however, downplays the progressive aspect of the band’s work, with no epic-length tracks as on the earlier albums. Lover’s End should appeal to much more than a progressive rock audience. As with Moon Safari’s earlier releases, the vocals are in English.

But even though the album appears less overtly ambitious than Moon Safari’s previous releases, Lover’s End ultimately shows even more musical and lyric intelligence than its predecessors. In this album Moon Safari even more clearly displays the confidence to be simple and direct when that’s what a song idea calls for, and the craftsmanship and performance ability to convey more complex ideas as they arise. Thus they can turn what initially seems to be a simple pop or classic rock song into something sophisticated and affecting.

“Lover’s End (Part 1)” opens with solo acoustic piano and harmonica, then burgeons into a midtempo progressive pop-rock song with early-’70s-style synthesizer passages, elegant guitar work, and excellent, expressive lead vocals and distinctively appealing vocal harmonies. Superb vocals are the band’s trademark, along with their skillful mixing of acoustic and electric-amplified sections, and all of these elements are on display in this opening song of nearly seven minutes’ duration. The final section of the song consists of fingerpicked acoustic guitars and a flute solo played on mellotron, providing a highly engaging conclusion.

“A Kid Called Panic” is more up-tempo and has a very striking lead vocal melody line and melodic synthesizer solo passages. Keyboard player Simon Åkesson displays quite a bit of virtuosity here without any unnecessary flashiness–more of a Geoff Downes than a Keith Emerson. As in “Lover’s End (Part 1), acoustic piano is established as a strong rhythmic element, and the harmony vocals are outstanding.

“Southern Belle” is a purely acoustic song of less than four minutes, with no drums or bass guitar, very placid and sedate as befits the subject matter of the lyrics. The composition opens with just over a minute of the a capella multipart-harmony vocals the band always does so well, followed by a serene passage of arpeggiated chords on solo acoustic piano and solo vocals by [lead singer] augmented by violin-like electric guitar. After a verse or two, multipart-harmony vocals are layered over the instrumentation, very nicely, and then the solo vocal resumes to close the song.

“The World’s Best Dreamers” brings the rhythm section back in a midtempo song where the acoustic piano and violin-like guitar are again prominent. The song has an attention-grabbing descending melody line on the verses, complementing that with complex multipart vocals on the choruses and bridge. The ’70s-style synthesizer is used to good effect in a couple of solos in the song’s bridge section and conclusion.

Rapidly arpeggiated piano chords and uptempo vocals open “New York City Summergirl,” the four-minute song then blossoming into a full-band arrangement with synthesizer trills and electric guitar flourishes. As its title might suggest, this song has an early-1970s pop-rock feel–think “Sweet City Woman” and you’ll have a grasp of what they seem to be attempting here. “New York City Summergirl” doesn’t reach the heights of that classic song, but it’s a commendable effort and a welcome throwback to that long-gone—and in my case long-missed—musical style. And the ending is just beautiful, with another stunning example the band’s lush harmonies and a piano allusion to “New York, New York.”

“Heartland” is an upbeat number led off by a synthesizer solo and an interesting drumbeat. The vocal melody on the verses is more emotionally intense than those on most of the recording, and the multi-voice chorus has an unusual syncopated rhythm that works well. [Keyboard player] plays several memorable passages on synthesizer, including the main musical riff, sometimes in unison with electric guitar, and there are more multipart complex-harmony vocals in the bridge. All in all, “Heartland” is a terrific classic-rock song that would be a huge hit if recording sales had a closer correlation with musical quality than it does these days. That is to say, it could have done very well in the 1970s, but is not likely to make much of a dent today. More’s the pity.

Clocking in at just under ten minutes, the gently flowing “Crossed the Rubicon” is the second-longest track on “Lover’s End.” Its unhurried pace and uncluttered arrangement contrast well with the anxiety conveyed in the lyrics, evoking the emotional peace the character is missing. Opening with twelve-string acoustic guitar and arpeggiated piano chords in the fashion of Gabriel -era Genesis, the midtempo song has another of the band’s striking vocal melody lines. This one rises steadily over several measures, then descends back toward the home chord.

The chorus and bridge are equally appealing. In the first instrumental bridge, the piano, guitar, and synthesizer trade off on the main instrumental theme of the song, interspersing variations and counterpoints of it. At about the two-thirds point the song builds in intensity as the soaring lead vocals express the sadness of a man putting his life behind him after a failed romance:

There will be no happy end, for romantic fools like me
All we do is run, while love is bleeding in the streets
We have our whole damned lives to wear our problems down,
and then we say the words: “I love you”,
when the words don’t mean a thing.

The song closes with an extensive, emotionally evocative guitar solo and wistful multipart vocals.

The brief “Lover’s End, Part 2” ends the album on a more optimistic lyrical note, with airy, multipart vocals (nicely reminiscent of some of the more experimental and inventive late-’60s songs by the Beach Boys, plus a couple of brief dissonant diversions suggestive of Queen and Klaatu) backed by acoustic guitar and piano.

Lover’s End isn’t quite as brilliant as the band’s masterpiece, Blomjud [TAC review here], but in its own way it’s equally enjoyable and affecting. Few musical artists these days are able to create works of this sophistication, musical ingenuity, and beauty, and so pleasing in the values they suggest.