The warm sun is still submerging into the Swedish subarctic landscape glade, and what better way is there to experience the paysage, if not to listen to the new four-piece instrumental EP, "Sunburst", performed and demonstrated by the Stockholm-based quintet VALLEY? Without knowing better, I've sunk into my initial listening session, but it wasn't until the seventh rewind I was even able to try to pronounce words accordingly to what my ears grasped. It seems that even without a vocalist to back them up, VALLEY managed to create a beautiful scenery of resonance and tranquility with their instruments.

"Sunburst" is a timeless piece, both in its quality and by its careful attention to details. Even in the lack of a phonetic dominance, the guitars and bass take over, and play the imperial lead in the record, while VALLEY prove their originality by adding the oriental Djembe drum, which is not typical for the western music scene, and they let it bland "Sunburst" in new colours. The absence in a human chant is barely noticeable, and as you're drifted away within the record's lively autonomy, a sedative voice concludes your adventure, not before you crave another round. "Sunburst" redefines the progressive phase with its rather simpler arrangement, and it drives its mellow momentum into the infinite lapse of time.

At the end of the day, VALLEY give the listeners something to aspire for. "Sunburst" is an unproclaimed story of revise, of tenderness and of everlasting warmth, and much like a good book, it never ends in its first chapter - it progresses and vines onwards, until it forms a spoken folklore. My sincere advice? Revoke everything you knew about instrumental music, soothe your conscience, have a beer, stretch your limbs, close your eyes and feast your ears on what the Swedes have to offer. Skål!