It really is amazing what a bit of sun and the company of a warm, intelligent and creative companion can do to brighten a dark and cold (not to mention hectic) week. It’s true that good company is a fleeting thing, and the meteorologists are already predicting more freezing precipitation and cold winds in the coming days. But the heat of solar rays and radiant skin, even for a few hours, is the sort of oasis that makes traveling through stark, frozen landscape that is our reality bearable.
I sort of look at the wonderfully warm and bright Indie Pop music that comes out of Sweden the same way. I know there’s probably beautifully verdant pastoral townships and vibrant cityscapes just teeming with warm, happy humans throughout the nation. But in my mind I guess I still associate Scandinavia with polar cold and inhospitable lands inhabited by Vikings to a certain degree. So as an outsider I sometimes see the inviting sounds of the country’s music scene as being a reaction to that, even though I know it’s probably more a product of their liberal society, educational system, and a government that subsidizes the arts, thus making creating beautiful things not only easier, but a natural extension of one’s existence.
One of my favorite proprietors of whimsical Swedish happiness set to music in recent memory was Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, a duo comprised of Johan Hedberg and Peter Gunnarson which combined elements of Twee-Pop, Anti-Folk, Synthpop and more. Their debut full-length #3 was one of my hands-down favorite albums of 2005, and I’ve been waiting patiently, and fruitlessly, for a follow-up. So I was pretty ecstatic when I got an e-mail announcement from Labrador Records that SKWB member Johan Hedberg was set to release a solo EP called 5-SpÃ¥rs EP (literally 5-Song EP). I wasn’t sure what it was going to sound like, but when I listened to the free MP3 of “Var dig själv” I was excited to hear he’d kept everything good about his work with Gunnarson in SKWB but wrapped it up in an even shinier Electropop exterior… and started singing entirely in Swedish rather than English.
Download “Var dig själv”
While the music on the 5-SpÃ¥rs EP is even more uniformly electronic than the majority of SKWB’s songs like “Grammisgalan” sparkle with acoustic, or acoustic-sounding instrumentation, including flute (or flute-like Melotron?), horns (or synth horns?), and banjo accenting the bouncy drum-programming, electro hand-claps and gurgling Post-Punk bassline. And despite the Timbaland-ish drum programming and synthesizers that dominate the disc, tracks like “Nygubbe4,” which is built from a choppy drum break and jangly guitars, are not only a perfect sequel to the Suburban Kids’ last record, but the perfect soundtrack for those special “Winter oasis” sort of days.
- El Keter
