No flash player!

Throughout my teen years I very nearly drown in Britpop. As I “AHEM” matured, I evolved and since then I’ve been a champion of Canadian music, so much so that I could have been accused of ignoring music from elsewhere. Over the last few years that changed as I opened myself up to new sounds the world over. Britain and the U.S have seen the “indie” sound become commercially viable and mainstream, but countries like Scotland and Sweden have pushed the boundaries and forced their way into what was once a closed club. The success of Scotland is hardly surprising, given their proximity to Britain, shared language, airwaves and influences. Sweden however is another matter entirely. There’s more to this story than ABBA. In fact, that’s the only time you’ll see that word here along with Ace Of Base and Roxette. God bless ‘em though for trying.

When The Cardigans exploded with “Love Fool” in 1996, few people thought much of their country of origin. Sweden was a hockey country and Swedish music seemed like an odd concept. I, like many others, first became aware of “Swedish music” in the early part of this decade when a band called The Caesars released an album called “Love For The Streets”.  It had a single called “Jerk It Out” that became something of a hit over here, a ridiculously infectious tune that was overplayed and flamed out quickly. Still, the band started something, or rather, was a part of something just beginning.  At the same time, a band called The Hives were making some noise (literally) with their “garage” sound, and The Knife were getting started with their eclectic sounds on their self titled debut. The “second wave” of Swedish music came in 2006 when it exploded onto the North American scene. There was this little ditty with some whistling in it…you may recall it, “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn & John. ‘Nuff said? Thing is, there was a great deal more to come out of this period. I’m From Barcelona, Hello Saferide, Shout Out Louds, El Perro Del Mar and Jens Lekman; The Knife gave us “Silent Shout” and there was the pristine voice of Jose Gonzalez. All this broke between 2006 and 2007, firmly establishing Sweden as a music scene to take seriously.

Whenever a music scene does well, it challenges itself and escalates, as more artists feel doors open up to them (this of course also means that EVERYONE has access to a record deal as labels don’t want to miss out).  This may or may not have been the case for The Radio Dept. a band that started out in ’97 and struggled until a big break in 2003 when they had a song appear in the movie Marie Antoinette. The Radio Dept. has proven that perseverance can be its own reward however. I had the pleasure of having a copy of their new album “Clinging To A Scheme” sent to me, but a confession however; I knew nothing of the band prior to having this sent to me. That’s the joy of this though, new music from new people and new places. I loved the album, from first listen, and this led me to look into and research the band a little (see their bio under our Artists Tab).

The album is not any kind of revelation or departure from what I listen too daily. What it is, is a catchy rock/pop sound with a variety of influences showing through, and dreamy far off sounding vocals layered over all of this. It works.  I’ve found thus far that the album listens better as a complete piece, as opposed to picking out tracks at a time, but I tend to feel that way about almost all music. I believe albums are conceptual pieces of art, designed by artists to be enjoyed as a whole. With that said, I would be remiss if I didn’t call attention to “Heaven’s On Fire”, which has an incredibly infectious beat that sticks in your head (I’m also a sucker for keyboards of any sort). The album did feel a little top heavy, in that the second half seems to mellow out, but this is less of a criticism and more observation for future listeners. Ultimately, what I will say is what I believe to be the ultimate compliment I can pay an artist. The album made me sit up and take notice. From here I will seek out other music from the band, I will recommend them to my friends and will look to the future for more music from them. Isn’t that the goal? I do feel some regret, that a band of this nature is unlikely to visit Ottawa anytime…or anytime soon. At least I may get a road trip to Montreal to see them and they are worth the trip.

I want to thank the good people at The Muse Box (www.themusebox.net) for their help and contributions to this article.