Eric Väpnargård

”Farfars Fabrik is a very memorable album on two fronts. Firstly, there’s an excellent main theme. It’s very melodic and it is played to great effect by a number of parts of the musical landscape that Väpnargård has created, particularly on the saxophone. The second aspect of the score that stays in the mind is the composer’s use of old analogue/early digital synths and drum machines. The tones these machines throw out are wonderfully warm and welcoming rather than the harsh and abrasive sounds some modern synth-based scores can create. And with these early synths, memories back to the early pioneers of synth scoring in films (and synth music generally) are triggered so that, listening to this album, it’s like becoming reacquainted with an old friend. It’s been difficult finding much information on the film but it does seem that the film runs to about 30 minutes. This album runs to over forty, suggesting that my assumption that many of the tracks were written as complete pieces that were later edited down to fit the image, may be correct. Having such complete pieces on the album adds to the listening experience, meaning that much of Farfars Fabrik can be enjoyed purely as an example of an early synth album. Eric Väpnargård’s album is heartily recommended and, more widely, the composer’s endeavour to try and preserve these old synths (sometimes having to repair them) is to be applauded.”
- Alan Rogers
Reel Music