Arn-Identified Flying Objects, Alien Friends, and 17 Birds Flock to the Gate, leaving Behind a Lasting Summer-Songprint!
- Esther
- Jul 20
- 3 min read
When we last checked in with Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends back in May, “Sing-Along Songs” had us hooked with its smirking hooks, existential quips, and that irresistible brand of irony-laced indie pop. It was music that winked even as it winced-clever, catchy, and quietly cathartic. But if that single was the sly invitation, "Summer's Gate" from the album "17 Birds at the Summer’s Gate" is the full, unfiltered journey through the artist’s inner cosmos. This time, Arne Floryd doesn’t just blur the lines between folk-rock, power pop, and psych-tinged storytelling, but he stretches them across an entire cinematic landscape. The result? A double album that sounds less like a sequel and more like a spiritual expansion. The wit is still there, but now it's wrapped in mystery. The melodies still shimmer, but they drift like ghosts. Floryd has swapped out the neon glow of indie irony for candlelit introspection, and what emerges is nothing short of spellbinding!
Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends' (the solo project of Arne Floryd, former member of Swedish band Redmoon), this double album, clocking in at well over an hour, is an ambitious, deeply poetic journey. Rooted in the rich textures of ‘60s and ‘70s folk and prog rock, but entirely free of retro mimicry, it finds its footing between nostalgia and now. Each track feels like a page torn from a very personal, sometimes surreal diary, blending elements of power pop, Swedish folk, Americana, and psych-rock, all threaded together by lyrics that are as tender as they are cryptic. The track of today's highlight, "Summer's Gate", has a sense of organic layering throughout the record, where fingerpicked guitars and wistful strings drift like passing thoughts, and where organ swells and blues guitar licks emerge like ghosts from memory. Arn-Identified (as Floryd is often referred to) works with patience. He doesn't rush crescendos or force hooks. Instead, he lets the songs unfold like dreams, slow-burning, occasionally surreal, and always soaked in emotion. There’s a tactful use of space in his arrangements, the songs breathe, rest, then bloom. From co-production by David Myhr (of The Merrymakers) to a stunning guest guitar solo by former Redmoon bandmate Daniel Lagerlöf, the sonic detail is both intricate and unpretentious. It feels handmade. Worn in, like a favorite coat.
The breathtaking 12-minute epic song begins as a hushed meditation, cinematic strings, soft bird chirps or birdsong rather, and organ atmospheres ease you in. Then, at just past the three-minute mark, the vocals appear with the poetic heft of Leonard Cohen and the melancholy grace of Nick Drake.
“There's a sign on the pole by the gate / Where the wind turns the winter into summer / But the grass still is brown / And the gardener is late…”
It’s an opening stanza that sets the tone for what follows, like a meditation on loss, memory, decay, and fragile hope. The song moves like a slow tide, swelling with drama, slipping into surreal dreamscapes (a one-legged girl chasing the sun, a dove flying into fire, children weeping by an empty shed), and ultimately building toward a haunting, blues-infused coda. The final instrumental passage, driven by Lagerlöf’s solo, is nothing short of majestic, a farewell, a requiem, and a hymn all at once. Yet “Summer’s Gate” is just the culmination of a journey that spans the entire album. Elsewhere, the record draws on storytelling, both personal and universal. Songs explore existential drift, the ache of love remembered, and the strange comfort of melancholy. It’s introspective songwriting of the highest order, literary, elliptical, and deeply human.
You can feel the DNA of Pink Floyd in the sprawling arrangements and emotional grandeur. You can sense echoes of Dylan in the poetic phrasing, and traces of Swedish folk tradition in the melodic restraint. But ultimately, Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends has carved out his own identity, one that is as much about observation as it is about confession. "17 Birds at the Summer’s Gate" overall feels more like a companion. A confessional. A constellation of stories stitched together with care and quiet courage. Give it your time. Let it unfold. Let it whisper. Because once you step through that gate, there’s no going back but only deeper in. And that’s exactly where Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends does their most extraordinary work. Please take a listen below!
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Listen to "17 Birds at the Summer's Gate" on #Spotify -
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