I’m not even sure where to start with this EP. Pell P. Arvidsson usually trades under the name of the Odd Fiddler but “Life, Death & Then There's Bedlam” isn’t really like an Odd Fiddler album. It seems instead more like some sort of oddball sonic allusion to the kind of bleak melancholy that often characterised Ingmar Bergman films.
Matters are not helped by the curious presentation. Pell P. Arvidsson’s voice is hard work being both heavily accented and distinctly limited in both range and expression. The subject matter for the songs is relentlessly downbeat and, at times, make you think that the release had been sponsored by The Samaritans to drum up some more business. “Mary-Lee”, for example, is a dark recitation of a story of mental decay and subsequent dislocation from society whilst “Merry Go Round” balances an elegant, classically styled piano against those flawed vocals as if comparing reality with beauty.
“Life, Death & Then There's Bedlam” seems more of a catharsis for Pell P. Arvidsson than an attempt at storytelling or any other sort of conventional entertainment. I neither liked nor enjoyed it but I also did not doubt the honesty that must have driven its creation. An oddball curiosity therefore but not without value.