Skövde, Sweden-based indie outfit The background world was founded by primary songwriters Martin Platan (lead guitar) and Hanna Leijon (vocals) back in 2018. The pair met at a local bar and shortly after meeting, decided to start collaborating on a musical project. As they began amassing a collection of songs, they started playing live shows together. But they quickly began to realize that the material they had written — and had been writing — needed to be further fleshed out to fulfill their vision. The duo first recruited two old friends, who the pair had worked with in different projects over the years, Oscar Hjerpe (guitar) and Mikel Åkerman (drums). The band’s first lineup was completed with the addition of high school friends Edwin Muratovic (bass) and Tove Håkansson (backing vocals).
The band went on to release their debut EP 2022’s, It’s about a band. Paradise takes, Live at NSL, which they followed up with a handful of standalone singles that included 2022’s “Gasoline”/”I love you,” and last year’s “Love ends,” along with a list of others. This early batch of material saw the band crafting songs that thematically touched upon addiction, mental health, the search for something better and just the simple things in everyday life.
Since then, the band has gone through a massive lineup change — with the band currently as a trio featuring founding members Platan (guitar, bass), Leijon (vocals, keys) and Marcus Helmner (keys). They’re currently working on their highly anticipated full-length debut, which will feature “Why” and “Love ends,” a lived-in anthem about the dissolution of a relationship that’s slowly petering out to its embittering and inevitable breakup. Sonically, the song brought Til Tuesday‘s “Voices Carry” and Vancouver-based JOVM mainstays FRANKIIE to mind.
The forthcoming album will also feature the Swedish outfit’s latest single “It goes like this,” features what may arguably be the most anthemic hooks and choruses of the band’s growing catalog paired with a earnest, plaintive vocal and a crafted, classic shoegaze-meets-dream pop-meets college radio arrangement. But underneath the shimmering guitars and rousing chorus is a proudly defiant song.
The accompanying video for “It goes like this” features a super saturated VHS-styled visual that follows a woman dressed in white in a forest named
“Paradise.”
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