Isola sometimes gets hastily called the Swedish OK Computer (released half a year between eachother) and there's obvious similarities: both albums were the apex of their respective groups' development at the time, blossoming from scrappy beginnings into an ambitious rock group channelling pre-millennium anxiety into grand guitar-heavy arrangements. But also, both albums were humongously influential. OK Computer basically rewrote the rules for contemporary rock (which the band had themselves written with The Bends) and has obviously caused a far wider wave behind it, but Isola did much the same for Nordic guitar music. Isola became a cornerstone for how Scandic guitars would sound for years to come to such an extent that we could almost call this particular strain a sub-genre of sorts, and countless bands in the cold North can cite Isola either as a direct or indirect inspiration for what they are doing. And much like its British counterpart, Isola was massive. It turned Kent immediately from homeland hopefuls into a pan-Nordic super success, establishing the groundwork for their eventual unofficial title of Sweden's biggest rock band. This was a huge album: even though at the time of its release it was completely out of my interest zone musically, you could still vividly feel its presence everywhere as the singles played on radio and music video programs non-stop.
It holds up great. As mentioned earlier Kent's first three albums are a story of continuous development, of a band learning piece-by-piece how to put those pieces together the best. They've called Isola their first real album and that's a fair assessment - this is where it all comes together, from the sound to the songs to hints at further roads they can take up next. It's the first time they sound like a band with a goal and with hunger to create something that stands up, rather than the more informal feel of the first two albums. Isola dares to dream big and then bravely takes that step.
The results speak for themselves - it's a great album. Its core is in its aching guitar walls, backing Joakim Berg's yearning vocals (who sounds like a true frontman for the first time, rather than just the guy who the band decided sounded the best in front of the mic). The first half is a testament to how well Kent had perfected their game: the soaring guitar tearing through "Livräddären", the melodic lushness of "Saker man ser" and "Celsius", the undeniability of how hard the mega hit "Om du var här" strikes, the stark quiet/loud dynamics of "Oprofessionell" and especially its tonal switch partway through, they're all just really excellent rock music. If Kent hadn't decided to stick with their native Swedish they'd be a favourite of anyone who loves late-90s alternative rock1. But it's the second half where the band start introducing new influences - quietly teased by the longing piano piece "OWC" partway through - that makes Isola the stand-out that it is. The steady bass and propulsive drums of "Bianca" and "Elvis" bring the rhythm section to the forefront in a manner they hadn't before, the atmospheric touch of the fragile "Innan allting tar slut" and the textural "Glider" add deeper and richer layers to Kent's sound, and in the end is "747". Their first grand finale closer, "747" introduces itself gently as it slowly keeps building itself up, pacing itself as to no start running ahead of itself: when it finally spreads its wings and launches into its long instrumental finale, with the dualing guitar solos and ever-present keyboard melody, it's almost like listening to a wholly different band from the one you began listening to ten songs ago. The quasi-electronic shuffle of its drums is the first sneaky glimpse of what would wait in Kent's future; here their air-light thrust acts as the epic credits roll and a victory lap for the album.
As excellent as it is, Isola isn't in the highest echelons of Kent's discography for me personally - their further development brought in their peaks in vastly different ways - but it's hard not to understand why it became such a definitive landmark for them. I've been listening to it quite a lot this week and though this sudden Indian summer heatwave hasn't exactly been the most appropriate environment for the album, I've found myself being drawn to it more than I can think of in recent memory. Even though it's so very late-1990s, it's aged like fine wine and sounds timelessly well-executed. It's a landmark record in my homegrounds for a reason and stands as the undeniable peak of their first phase, with even more exciting things to come.
A full review of the album is also on my website, for those interested.
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That said, Kent did record an English version of this album in a label-pushed attempt to break into overseas markets. Unfortunately Berg's voice just doesn't work in foreign tongue and his slurry, heavily accented delivery of stiltedly translated lyrics effectively killed off the English Isola's hopes. The reason I'm not linking to the video of "747" is because the only Youtube upload uses the English version, and that's enough said. I still see the English version from time to time in second hand shops though, which is always fun. But seriously if you think moody guitars from the 1990s is your absolute jam, go listen to Kent already.