The Swedish Queen of dark pop has found a new path with lots of sunshine
Swedish artist Tove Lo usually creates alternative and honest pop songs about heartbreak, where the production suits the darker corners of the club. On her new album, Sunshine Kitty, Lo has been walking down a much brighter path – one that has a promising and very well-produced foundation throughout (almost) the entire album.
Tove Lo has changed her lyrical universe surrounding broken hearts and drugs, to embrace inner peace and falling in love. She wants you to actually enjoy the parties you attend, instead of being smashed and wasted on the dancefloor. Unfortunately, there are some quite dull moments between the delicate pop bangers; where songs like “Mateo” and “Shifted” give the vibe of waiting in line for the washroom at a party, where you are feeling impatient and restless.
Throughout the 40-minute album, Tove Lo is guiding you through her newfound happy place. Unfortunately, this positiveness doesn’t have quite the same feeling of sincerity and honesty that can be found on Lo’s earlier productions.
All in all, I am sure to give this little Kitty a spin or two, especially when I’ll be going out to dance the night away.
7/10
Trial Track: “Really don’t like u” ft. Kylie Minogue
Star Bar:
“They say be one with the city
So I’m standing in the sun all day
Got their manners mapped out
And they just smile, no matter what I say” (Lo on “Anywhere u go”)
Graveyard building up their groove to a shaking climax. Photo by Hunter Walwaski.
The Deadbeats and Graveyard flood Corona with smoke
Long hair. Leather. A fascination with the occult. House lights dim as a smokey haze rises.
Someone spills beer on your shoe. Riff-driven sonic psychedelia bounces from wall to wall, very noticeably travelling through your ear canals on its supersonic yet sluggish coma-inducing journey. Welcome to the stoner rock concert.
Local consumers of all stoner-related sounds converged at the Corona Theatre this past
Friday for an evening of European psychedelic madness. Gothenburg hard-rock outfit Graveyard delivered an eclectic show, assisted by British act Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats and English alternative-rock openers Demob Happy.
The timing was nothing short of perfect. With Trudeau’s recent green legalization still fresh to the city, its effect on the stoner rock culture could be seen in full force that night. From the sea of synchronized bobbing heads to the venue’s questionable air quality, this concert was very much a celebration of Canadian freedom and local drug culture. While the signs said to keep it nine meters from the door, I’m not sure people understood that didn’t mean towards the venue’s interior.
While Demob Happy’s daunting flavour of alternative rock served as a worthy competitor to Graveyard and Uncle Acid’s massive sounds, unfortunately they served only as an enjoyable prelude. It wasn’t a fair competition though, as with stoner rock, volume often triumphs over quality, and we all know that the sound guys turn the volume up a notch on the soundboard each time another band takes the stage.
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats conquered with their grooving southern/desert rock sound. Despite sounding fairly similar to contemporary acts such as Kyuss and Orange Goblin, with Black Sabbath influence oozing out of their performance, Uncle Acid’s constantly-rumbling tone was used to full effect during this show. All of their songs seem to be built around these groovy riffs that could entertain on repeat. Unfortunately, the keyboardist in charge of delivering the band’s ominous vibe could not be heard over the incessant guitar riffs and percussion hits, rendering him fairly useless. It’s a shame too, as it looks like they brought in a session keyboardist for this tour.
While Uncle Acid and his rag-tag gang of long-haired bandits engaged in ceremoniously worshipping the riff for a little over an hour, Graveyard succeeded with longer song compositions, all ultimately detonating at their well-teased conclusions. Starting at a mellow pace, building up through song progression, and finally leading to an intense sonic culmination seems to be Graveyard’s bread and butter formula.
The general rule is that live performances usually sound better than songs in-studio, especially with how loud these bands get. Graveyard was no exception. It was one of those incrementally-surprising evenings. I haven’t been to a show in a few months, so the familiar air and concert atmosphere got me pumped up during Demob Happy’s performance. Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats followed suit; most people seemed to be enthralled in the group’s incessant riffing. I thought that was the night topper, but of course Graveyard stole the show in momentous fashion. This is not a tour to miss, and I don’t even smoke. Imagine what a stoner would say.
The Radio Dept. to perform at Théâtre Fairmount for their North American tour
Travelling all the way from Stockholm to Montreal are Johan Duncanson and Martin Carlberg, the duo known as The Radio Dept. Théâtre Fairmount will be welcoming the Swedish pop duo on Monday, March 6. They will bring the party to their audience while performing their latest album, Running Out of Love. It’s a politically-charged album that is perfect for grooving to, with its fusion of pop and European electronic dance ballads.
The band has been around for 16 years—Duncanson and Carlberg began making music together back in 2001. “Martin and I, we like pop music and we want it to have a light, experimental touch,” Duncanson said. “We have the same taste when it comes to chords in melodies and arrangements.”The Radio Dept.’s sound has evolved throughout the years. “At first, it was always acoustic guitar, bass and vocals. Now, for the past 10 years, we’ve added drop beats and bass line,” Duncanson said. The band name, The Radio Dept., was originally the name of Duncanson’s previous band. He ended up re-using the name for his current band. “When Martin and I started our band, we did not have any imagination so we stole that band name,” he said.
The Swedish pop duo fuses melancholic dance music with vocals and bass. “We listen to a lot of dance music. Although we are inspired by a lot of instrumentals, we want to focus on making pop music,” Duncanson said. Duncanson writes most of the songs, and Martin plays the guitar and bass. “We live in different cities, [so] I do a lot on my own. I write most songs and then play them for Martin,” Duncanson said. “Martin is better at playing guitar and bass.”
The Radio Dept. explores melancholic lyrics with vibrant pop music. Photo courtesy of Radio Dept.
Running Out of Love opens with their track “Sloboda Narodu,” which means “death to fascism, freedom to the people” in Serbo-Croatian. Duncanson heard about this expression in a Swedish documentary, which is what sparked his inspiration for the song. “The documentary was about a journalist travelling around old Yugoslavia, trying to find people who knew old partisan songs. The journalist came across a girl who sang the sloboda narodu slogan,” he said. “I didn’t know of this slogan before, and wanted to use it.” There have been political issues in Sweden concerning their gun trade for the past seven years, according to Duncanson. The duo wanted to use their musical talents to bring awareness to these issues. Duncanson said their track “Swedish Guns” has been misunderstood by many. “It’s been misinterpreted in the States as being a song about carrying a gun. That is not what it’s about. It’s about the arms industry,” he said.
Radio Dept.’s latest album, Running Out of Love.
According to Business Insider, Sweden exports arms and weapons to different countries around the world. “We have done it for a long time. I don’t know if people know this outside of Sweden, but this is something we are quite ashamed of,” Duncanson said. This issue is reflected in the lyrics of “Swedish Guns,” as Duncan sings, “Cause who can be to blame for Swedish guns? A clue, it’s in the name, a diabolic shame.” The song has a pop-dance rhythm, all while sharing a powerful political message. “We would like to make our money in some other way. It’s not a good feeling to sell weapons to other countries,” Duncanson said.
Running Out of Love has succeeded in fusing upbeat dance music with political lyrics. “We wanted to make our music slightly darker than before, but not too dark because we are optimists and hopeful people,” Duncanson said.The Swedish duo, currently on their North American tour, will be performing in Montreal at Théâtre Fairmount on March 6. Doors open at 7:30 p.m, and the show begins at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 online or $20 at the door.
Okay, it’s official; Scandinavian countries kick ass. Sure, they’ve got the whole tuition-free education system thing mapped out, but I’m talking about the music. Somehow their progressive social structures, northern weather and mish-mash influences have fused together to create some of the freshest, most creative and raw music out there. Sweden’s sister-duo First Aid Kit is no exception to the rule.
From YouTube clips and homegrown EPs, to collaborating with some of music’s finest, young vocalists and instrumentalists Johanna and Klara Söderberg have topped Sweden’s charts for weeks now with their latest full-length release, The Lion’s Roar.
“It’s really weird,” eldest sister Johanna tells me over Skype about their newfound fame. “We walk around the streets of Stockholm and I can see people looking at us differently; some even come up and talk to us. I guess sometimes we probably would prefer to just go about our stuff, but I’ve always seen it as something you have to take when you decide to become a musician.”
They will be getting a small break over the next few months, as they tour North America where they can still be considered a fan’s well-kept secret. But given the group’s raw vocals, perfect harmonies, catchy tunes and stunning performances, they won’t be enjoying anonymity here for too long.
People have been trying to peg down First Aid Kit’s genre since the very start.
“That question always trips me up,” Johanna admits, laughing. “Klara and I actually came up with ‘folkal,’ or folk music that focuses on our vocals. I guess that could work, but to be honest, we think it’s kind of cool that everyone has their own way of interpreting what we do. It’s never felt too important for us to fit into any given genre.”
Their sound has also evolved considerably. Their 2008 EP Drunken Trees was a warm, woodsy and stripped-down effort, with their track “Tangerine” featuring laments expected only of women much older than the two sisters, who recorded the album at the tender ages of 15 and 17.
Next came The Big Black and the Blue in 2010, which had them touring extensively across Europe, North America and Australia with a medley of increasingly polished and toe-tapping tracks. It was during one of those shows that they were approached by The White Stripes frontman and music producer, Jack White. They recorded two titles with White, including a cover of Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Universal Soldier.”
Things kept picking up for the sisters, and in February 2011, they linked up with Bright Eyes for a performance of their track “Lua.” That collaboration would prove defining. Next thing they knew, producer extraordinaire and Bright Eyes multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis was offering to produce their next record.
The result is their most recent effort: a country-tinged album that is by far the band’s most polished and mature.
“Country was a really natural progression for us, and this album has made us much more confident,” Johanna explains. “Working with Mike, which was completely surreal, has also made us want to really live up to the studio’s name and to his expectations. We were definitely much more focused under that kind of pressure than we ever were recording in our room over weekends and holidays. I think that was really good for us.”
The availability of top-of-the-line equipment and a slew of new instruments have also changed the group’s sound—a far cry from their early YouTube debut. In fact, the girls are now the ones being covered.
“[YouTube] has been a really, really good thing for us,” says Johanna. “I guess you could say that we’re not selling as many records, but it’s opened so many doors and provided us with so many opportunities—it’s like a musical revolution, really.”
The girls will be hitting up Montreal on April 3, performing their new stuff at La Sala Rossa. “We’re excited to come back to Montreal with the new album,” says Johanna. “We haven’t properly toured in over a year and the album is really fun for live performances, a lot of singing along and fun, dynamic crowds.”
If previous performances are any indication, expect some soul-wrenching harmonies, quirky sister banter and a powerful dose of Scandinavian creativity.
First Aid Kit play La Sala Rossa (4848 Saint-Laurent Blvd.) on April 3. Tickets are $17 in advance or $20 at the door.
