Death and the Pedal Steel

What we have in Maggie Björklund’s sophomore album Shaken is, at its core, a rumination on death by way of what can be described as pedal steel guitar with a Danish twist. The Danish twist is a simplified way of describing Björklund’s approach to this instrument. Her style of playing is dramatically different from what most would be used to hearing.

You’ve heard the pedal steel guitar; it’s that instrument that gives country music its twang. When played in the traditional manner, it’s an unmistakable sound. When the Grateful Dead wanted to lend a country flavor to their classic records American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, Jerry Garcia brought out the pedal steel guitar. Folk singer Ray Lamontagne has done the same on his latest offerings. But the sounds Björklund coaxes from the pedal steel are other worldly at times. Take for example the instrumental track “Missing At Sea.” Björklund creates a loop of jagged high and low pitches from the instrument that underlie deeper, doom-laden chords. Likewise, the record opener “Dark Side of the Heart” begins with a haunting, echoing cascade of notes from the pedal steel that fade out and give way to something sounding like a funeral march.

So who is Maggie Björkland? Lately she has been rising to some prominence as a member of Jack White’s all female backing band and session player on his latest record. This raises Björklund’s other interesting quality, which is her rarity as a female pedal steel guitar player. It goes without saying then that she brings a female perspective to the instrument. Rather than rocking out on it a la Robert Randolph (who has helped bring the pedal steel to prominence in his own way), she uses it to lend color and flourishes to her music. What she produces is a psychedelic sound that escapes description. We’re not talking psychedelic cowboys here, we’re talking psychedelic…vikings?

The record flows quickly and all the tracks make sense together, especially when keeping in mind that Björklund wrote this while witnessing the death of her mother in the hospital. As Björklund explains, “That little gap between the life before and the life after this event, happened by chance to be the exact time of this album taking shape. That moment holds some fundamental truths if we dare to explore them.” That feeling is the tissue that binds the album together. A female, Danish pedal steel guitar player sets this apart as a deeply creative and unique concept album.