Tag: Adrian Recordings

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of 2019’s Mouth Full of You EP, rising Malmö-based shoegazer outfit and JOVM mainstays Spunsugar — Elin Ramstedt, Cordelia Moreau, and Felix Sjöström — quickly established a unique, genre-blurring take on shogaze, which meshed elements of industrial electronica, post-punk, noise rock and dream pop. Mouth Full of You earned the band international attention, with the EP receiving airplay from BBC 6 Music‘s Steve Lamacq.

2020 saw the release of their critically applauded, Joakim Lindberg-produced full-length debut Drive-Through Chapel, an album that saw the Malmö-based outfit actively seeking to emulate the sounds of post punk and shoegaze pioneers like Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, and others — but while simultaneously crafting some of their hardest hitting material to date.

2021 saw the release of Things That I Confuse EP, an effort that saw the band still focusing on an overarching post-punk and dream pop aesthetic, while taking an opportunity to spread their creative wings to craft a broader and diverse batch of material.

The Swedish shoegazers highly anticipated sophomore album A Hole Forever is slated for a November 17, 2023 release through Adrian Recordings. Thematically, the album will further cement the band’s fearlessness when it comes to discussing heavy topics with the album touching on the realities of coming to terms with internal shame, getting older and confessing dark secrets with the mindset that life is a slow death.

A Hole Forever’s latest single “It Never Gave Me Anything” is built around classic and beloved shoegaze elements — propulsive and grimy bass lines, thunderous bass lines and hazy reverb-drenched guitars. Those beloved elements are paired with a seamless meshing of electronic, post-punk and pop components that create a subtle yet very modern touch. But under that hazy instrumental is a darker, menacing story about a person’s disturbing relationship with themselves. The result is a song that’s emotionally ambivalent and uneasily uncertain while being unvarnished and deeply probing.

“‘It Never Gave Me Anything’ describes a relationship between a person and an unwanted side of themselves,” the band explains. “This side is so unlike how they want to be that they treat them as a separate entity, maybe even a person. It has always been there, ruining moments, talking to them and making sure that they never forget that it is present. A seemingly never ending list of things this ‘it’ is responsible for is recited over a pulsating beat and bass riff that is both ominous and groovy at the same time. This paired with a wall of distorted guitars that show up in the bridges and choruses, creates a song that makes you question what mood the song leaves you with. As is typical of the band, the song plays with what emotion, as well as which genre, it evokes.”



Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of 2019’s Mouth Full of You EP, rising Malmö-based shoegazer outfit and JOVM mainstays Spunsugar — Elin Ramstedt, Cordelia Moreau, and Felix Sjöström — quickly established a unique, genre-blurring sound, which meshed elements of industrial electronica, post-punk, noise rock, shoegaze and dream pop. Mouth Full of You wound up earning the band international attention with the EP receiving airplay from BBC 6 Music‘s Steve Lamacq.

Building upon a growing profile, the Swedish trio released their critically applauded, Joakim Lindberg-produced full-length debut Drive-Through Chapel last October through Adrian Recordings.  The album, which featured the brooding 4AD Records-like ” “Happier Happyless,” and the breakneck ripper   “Run,” a single that reminded me of Lightfoils, The Sisters of Mercy, Chain of Flowers found the members of Spunsugar actively seeking to emulate the sounds of  Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, and others — but while simultaneously crafting some of their hardest hitting material to date.

Earlier this month, the members of the Malmö-based JOVM mainstay act released their latest effort Things That I Confuse. While still focusing on an overarching post-punk and dream pop aesthetic, the EP sees the band taking an opportunity to spread their creative wings to craft a broader and more diverse batch of material.

“The songs on Things That I Confuse pretty much wrote themselves in a frenzy. Still, they sound more Spunsugar than ever,” the members of the band explain in press notes. “It’s still as timeless and nostalgic as it is fresh. The four songs consist of two more poplike tracks and two that have kept the more noisy aggressive sound that has become a staple of the band. Now there’s an added layer of an icy lo-fi feel. References to giallo films and Japanese movie monsters work to tell stories of close relationships, trauma and regret that keeps one up at night. Every second is thought through, there’s no unnecessary fluff. Every note serves a purpose on this EP.”

The Swedish shoegazers started off this year with “Rodan,” the EP’s first single. Deriving its name from a Japanese movie monster, much like Godzilla, “Rodan” saw the band crafting a lushly textured song that’s sonically indebted to Cocteau Twins while arguably being their most danceable singles to date.

Much like BLACKSTONE RNGRS, Lightfoils and a growing list of others, the members of Spunsugar push the boundaries of shoegaze and dream pop into new directions and Things That I Confuse‘s latest single “Hatchet” sees the Swedish trio creating a lushly textured sound that meshes elements of industrial electronica, brooding 4AD Records-like atmospherics and shimmering dream pop centered around their unerring knack for crafting anthemic hooks.

While being one of the more aggressive songs on the EP “Hatchet” evokes the whirring thoughts of someone full of regret and self-doubt, replaying their questionable decisions, actions and thoughts over and over and over again.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of 2091’s Mouth Full of You EP, the rising Malmö-based shoegazer outfit  Spunsugar — Elin Ramstedt, Cordelia Moreau, and Felix Sjöström — quickly established a genre-blurring sound, which features elements of industrial electronica, post-punk, noise rock, shoegaze and dream pop. Mouth Full of You would wind up earning international attention with the EP receiving airplay from BBC 6 Music‘s Steve Lamacq.

Building upon a growing profile, the Swedish trio released their critically applauded, Joakim Lindberg-produced full-length debut Drive-Through Chapel last October through Adrian Recordings.  The album, which featured the brooding 4AD Records-like ” “Happier Happyless,” and the breakneck ripper   “Run,” a single that reminded me of Lightfoils, The Sisters of Mercy, Chain of Flowers found the members of Spunsugar actively seeking to emulate the sounds of  Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, and others — but while simultaneously crafting some of their hardest hitting material to date.

The acclaimed Swedish shoegazer outfit start off the year with their latest single “Rodan.” Featuring twinkling synths, reverb-drenched drums, glistening guitars, a chugging bass line and a soaring hook, the arrangement serves as a sumptuous bed for sultry and expressive vocals, “Rodan” sees the members of Spunsugar crafting a lushly textured song that manages to be sonically indebted to Cocteau Twins while arguably being their most danceable single to date.

The new single’s title derives its name from Rodan, a Japanese movie monster, like Godzilla. “That’s who I felt like while writing the lyrics,” Spunsugar’s Cordelia Moreau says in press notes. Interestingly, Rodan was the first Kaiju movie made in color — and there’s some fitting symbolism to the title: While inspired by the past, the song reveals a subtle new direction for the band.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Adrian Recordings · Spunsugar – Run

With the release of last year’s attention-grabbing debut EP Mouth Full of You. the rising Swedish act Spunsugar firmly established a unique, genre-blurring sound and approach. which features elements of industrial electronica, post-punk, noise rock, shoegaze and dream pop. And as as a result, the band earned airplay from BBC 6 Music‘s Steve Lamacq.

Building upon their growing profile, the Swedish indie rock act’s highly-anticipated, Joakim Lindberg-produced,  full-length debut Drive-Through Chapel is slated for an October 2, 2020 release through Adrian Recordings.  The album reportedly finds the rising Swedish act seeking to emulate the sounds of beloved acts like Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, and others — but while simultaneously crafting some of their hardest hitting material to date. Earlier this year, I wrote about the brooding single “Happier Happyless,” a track that sonically recalled 4AD Records while also nodding at contemporary acts like Lightfoils, BLACKSTONE RNGRS and countless others, who have actively pushed the sonic boundaries of shoegaze and dream pop. 

“Run,” Drive-Through Chapel‘s latest single is centered around layers of blazing. pedal effected guitars, a forcefully insistent, industrial thump, rousingly anthemic hooks and earnest songwriting. The end result is a breakneck banger that recalls Lightfoils, The Sisters of Mercy, Chain of Flowers and others — but while possessing the swooning urgency of youth.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Most Americans would be familiar with Stockholm, Sweden‘s capital and largest city; however, over the last decade or so, Umea, Sweden’s third (and most Northern) and Malmo, Sweden’s twelfth (and most Southern)  that have emerged with reputations for being some of Scandinavia’s most exciting creative hotbeds as an increasing number of artists and bands from Umea and Malmo have started to receive international recognition. Some of those acts have been profiled here — including the Malmo, Sweden-based lo-fi rock quintet YAST.

Now if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months, you might recall that I’ve written about the Southern Swedish quintet before. The band can trace its origins to when its founding members Carl Kolbaek-Jensen, Tobias Widman and Marcus Norberg met in the steel town Sandviken in 2007 and started writing and playing music  as a way to escape a dreary life in even drearier environs. By the following year, Jensen, Widman and Norberg relocated to Malmo which has developed a reputation for a growing dream pop and indie rock scene. Some time later, Markus Johansson and Niklas Wennerstrand, who were both members of Aerial were recruited to flesh out the band’s sound.

With the release of their self-titled debut released in 2013, the Swedish quintet started to receive attention both in their native Sweden and internationally, and as a result they’ve opened for renowned psych rock acts including TOY, The Drums, Tame Impala, DIIV,  and they’ve made appearances at several large festivals, along with a UK tour, which suggests that the band’s international profile is growing — and rapidly.

The band’s sophomore album, My Dreams Did Finally Come True was released earlier this year through Adrian Recordings to international attention with the release of the album’s first two singles — in particular, “Together Forever,” a shimmering guitar-based pop song that managed to channel  120 Minutes era alternative rock. Building on the buzz they’ve received from their first two singles, My Dreams Did Finally Come True‘s third single “I Don’t Think She Knows” and its B-side “My Dreams” will further cement the band’s reputation for shimmering and slow-burning shoegaze-leaning guitar pop with anthemic hooks and an earnest, aching heart at its core — all while being remarkably buoyant and ebullient.

 

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Swooning and Romantic Sound of Malmo, Sweden’s YAST

Although most Americans would likely only know of Stockholm, Sweden’s capital and largest city, it’s Umea, Sweden’s third (and most Northern) and Malmo, Sweden’s twelfth (and most Southern) cities that have emerged with reputations for […]