Tag: Club 8 Strangely Beautiful

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Club 8 Returns with Breezy “ooo”

Throughout the course of this site’s nearly 15-year history, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink on Stockholm-based duo Club 8 — Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and electronic music producer, artist and Labrador Records founder and label boss Johan Angergård. And as you will likely recall, the JOVM mainstay act formed back in 1995, initially as a recording project, before expanding into a full-fledged touring band.

Throughout the Stockholm-based outfit’s three decade history, they’ve had a long-held reputation for being sonically restless and notoriously difficult to pigeonhole. Their full-length debut, 1995’s Nouvelle saw the duo tackling Bossa nova. 1998’s The Friend I Once Had saw the duo exploring electronic pop and electronic dance music. The Swedish outfit’s next three albums — 2001’s self-titled, 2002’s Spring Came, Rain Fell and 2003’s Strangely Beautiful — saw the duo dabbling with old-school-inspired soul. 

2017-2018 may have arguably been one of the more prolific and busiest periods of Angergård’s lengthy career: With his solo recording project The Legends, he released Nightshift. Djustin, his collaboration with Rose Suau released their full-length debut Voyagers. He closed that period with Club 8’s 10th album, 2018’s Golden Island, which featured “The Hospital,” one of the most industrial/goth-leaning tracks the pair have ever released. 

Last year, the Swedish JOVM mainstays released their 11th album, A Year With Club 8, which featured the Joy Division/New Order-meets-The Raveonettes-like “Something’s Wrong With My Head,” a woozily blissful and escapist song that continued a run of material dabbling in 80s New Wave nostalgia.

The Stockholm-based outfit begin the new year with their latest single, “ooo,” the follow-up to last year’s A Year With Club 8. “ooo,” seemingly continues where their 11th album left off — breezy and escapist, New Wave-inspired pop featuring shimmering guitars and driving grooves paired with ethereal yet expressive vocals.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed back in 1995, Stockholm-based duo Club 8 — Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and electronic music producer, artist and Labrador Records founder and label boss Johan Angergård — initially began as a recording project, before expanding into a full-fledged touring band.

Throughout their nearly three decade history, the Swedish pop outfit has a long-held reputation for being sonically restless and notoriously difficult to pigeonhole. Their full-length debut, 1995’s Nouvelle saw the duo tackling Bossa nova. 1998’s The Friend I Once Had saw the duo exploring electronic pop and electronic dance music. The Swedish outfit’s next three albums — 2001’s self-titled, 2002’s Spring Came, Rain Fell and 2003’s Strangely Beautiful — saw the duo dabbling with old-school-inspired soul.

2017-2018 may have arguably been one of the more prolific and busiest periods of Angergård’s lengthy career: With his solo recording project The Legends, he released Nightshift. Djustin, the Labrador Records founder and label boss’ collaboration with Rose Suau released their full-length debut, Voyagers. He closed that period out with Club 8’s 10th album, 2018’s Golden Island, which featured “The Hospital,” one of the most industrial/goth-leaning tracks the pair have ever released.

Over the past year, the Swedish duo have released a batch of singles, including their latest, the recently released “Sucker.” Anchored around incredibly catchy hooks, shimmering, reverb-soaked guitars and a relentless motorik groove serving as a lush bed for Komstedt’s ethereal croon, “Sucker” sees the Stockholm-based outfit dabbling in dance floor friendly, hook-driven 80s New Wave nostalgia.