Anthology Recordings is getting set to release the “essential live recordings” of Träd, Gräs & Stenar, one of Sweden’s early pioneers of psychedelic rock. Comprised of guitarists Bo Anders Persson and Jakob Sjöholm, bassist Torbjörn Abelli, cellist Arne Ericsson, and drummer Thomas Mera Gartz, the band took it’s name in 1969; though, starting in 1967, incarnations of the group with Thomas Tidholm and Urban Yman went by the names Pärson Sound, International Harvester and Harvester–before the reformed group decided on Träd, Gräs & Stenar (Trees, Grass, and Stones). Anthology Recordings’ 6xLP/3xCD box set collects together the group’s 1971 live album Djungelns Lag, as well as 1972’s Mors Mors. In addition, the set will include Kom Tillsammans, previously unheard music assembled from the band’s personal archives.
This short, five minute documentary was filmed east of Stockholm, on an old 18th century farm owned since the 1980’s by Jakob Sjöholm‘s family. Shot and edited by the guitarist’s son Isak, the film also features Träd, Gräs & Stenar’s guitarist/vocalist Bo Anders, who came down for the weekend of filming. Rural, and ultimately remote in time and place, the farm, shot in a beautiful and stark black and white, is the perfect location for a documentary about a band that said it wanted its music to be “connected to an organic and sustainable way of life”. Also included here, are some excellent photographs from the group’s early days, capturing the DIY and tightly knit communal vibe of Sweden’s psychedelic heyday.
