THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Gaupa return with new mini-album Fyr and a slimmed down lineup — all to serve up some of their heaviest material to date.
A multi-layered play on words, in the Swedish language Fyr can mean four, which coincides with this being Gaupa’s fourth release. Yet it can also mean lighthouse, beacon and fire, which for various reasons fit the music and lyrical content as well. New engineer Karl Daniel Lidén has given the tracks on Fyr a grittier, more aggressive sound. At the same time, the core elements of the Swedes’ musical approach remain present: Spellbinding intricacy, tripped-out, spacious verses guiding a steady stream of psychedelia, and waves of hard stoner riffs. Inspired largely by Ursula K. Le Guin’s award-winning science fiction novel The Word for World Is Forest, vocalist Emma Näslund’s lyrics contemplate the concept of time as well as the essential question as to what is real, which seeps throughout the songs.
Since the release of their self-titled EP in 2018, Gaupa — which translates as lynx in English – have paved new ground in the stoner and psychedelic scene, building a unique cosmos defined by enchanting lyrical surrealism and mind-altering sounds. In 2020, their debut album Feberdröm pushed them into the international spotlight with its outstanding blend of progressive metal, doom, stoner, and folk, steered by entrancing vocals. The sophomore 2022 full-length Myriad reached over a million streams. Although Gaupa describe Fyr as a “patchwork of parts,” with each member having an equal part to play, this mini album comes as a solid record that sets a high bar for their future works.”
