Daniel Gildenlöw (Close-Up)

Bobin James

Daniel Gildenlöw doesn’t walk. He strides – all 6-foot-plus frame of his – with a sense of urgency. But the Pain of Salvation frontman stops just as readily when fans at the IIT Madras campus request him for pictures and autographs. Tonight, the Swedish progressive rock band is headlining at the institute’s annual festival, Saarang ”“ their second India gig. Just a week ago, on January 22, Pain of Salvation were at IIM Lucknow. “I guess I had gone there pretty much without any expectations, and so I was very positively surprised [by the response],” says the 37-year-old Gildenlöw.

The India “tour” is in support of the band’s last album, Road Salt One (2010). As with their past few albums, Road Salt One moved in directions tangential to the band’s earliest sound. Reactions were extreme ”“ people either loved it or hated it. “That’s been happening with every album actually,” says Gildenlöw. “The funny thing is that people who love it will keep loving it and many of the people who hate it will actually get to loving it,” he reckons. “So I guess that’s the good thing about Pain of Salvation. It really goes the other way around. Some people just need more time. It’s always going to be like that, I guess.”

The band is currently working on the follow-up, Road Salt Two. “Most of it is recorded. But I still have some problems to work out, like the sound. I’m really picky about the sound,” says Gildenlöw. While initially planned for a May release, Road Salt Two might only come to us in September. “I have some lyrics left to write ”“ the ones that have been bugging me for a long time. I always have a few of those,” he says. “They usually turn out very good in the end, the ones you struggle with for a long time. So I’m looking forward to it.”