What’s a veteran shoegazer to do? I once worshipped in the nave of those archetypal cathedrals of sound which emanated from Cocteau Twins in the 1980s and Ride and Slowdive in the early 1990s. Walls of sound and fuzzy guitars inspired much head swaying moments at the local indie disco and the mutual wallowing in the soundscapes brought me many an innocent snog. So what is Scandinavian siren Maria Lindén and her musical partner Fredrik Balck thinking? How dare I Break Horses remind me of my lost youth!

I Break Horses may transport some back to patchouli scented days when life was no harder than a sociology essay. It’s such an authentic return to the effects pedal past. This smouldering ember begins with the pulsing glow of recent single Winter Beats. A hynotic keyboard hook penetrates the fuzz whilst Lindén makes fine attempts to compete with the thick, foggy sound.

The shoegaze rennaisance has had more false dawns than the economy but these Swedes have made a strong bid for dominance over compatriots Sad Day For Puppets and others like School For Seven Bells. Maria Lindén is simply more floaty and other worldly and the music more mesmerising than their rivals on the scene. The title track fizzes like a catherine wheel before Lindén envelopes it in her vocal which effectively adds an extra layer of instrumentation to the mix. Everything comes together within the swirling psychedelia which completely overtakes “Wired” and trips you out before the headfuck outro that frankly ought to carry a health warning.

Yes there are strands to Hearts which nod to Liz Fraser and the Cocteau Twins sound. Most notably on the serene “I Kill Your Love, Baby!” which begins with a heartbeat before a steady rise of church inspired chimes and angelic voices complete a woozy ambience. “Cancer” could also comfortably squeeze on to Treasure. Yet there’s enough substance to I Break Horses to make them more than just a nostalgic pastiche of an ethereal past. Perhaps it’s time a new generation started staring at the floor. A most majestic fuzz.

Described as invoking memories of Cocteau Twins and Slowdive, as well as the emotional synth-pop of M83 circa Saturdays = Youth, Swedish duo I Break Horses are clearly on the right path. Having released the album’s title track a few weeks ago, they’ve followed this with the hypnotic opening track, “Winter Beats”, as a free download. I Break Horses is the nom de plume of Maria Lindén and her musical partner Fredrik Balck. Residing in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, the duo have spent the last two years meticulously crafting the nine tracks that make up debut album Hearts, released on August 22 through Bella Union.

I Break Horses – Winter Beats by Bella Union

In the same way that there’s a sick appeal to anti-heroes in television and film, there’s a lot of somewhat perverse satisfaction to be gleaned from break-up albums. We’ve all been there, we’ve all imagined those who wronged us suffering for what they’ve done, and we’ve all mourned in self-indulgent, embarrassing ways. And to observe someone else feel the same way, and express something so undeniably raw and human, it reminds us that we’re not alone.

For all intents and purposes, despite it lacking a larger concept or ongoing theme, Wounded Rhymes is a break-up album, if not an unusual one. The transformation of Lykke Li from indie pop princess to an ordinary sad sack is jarring and undeniably powerful. Shreds of Li’s 60′s pop-inspired and garage rock reverberations remain but with sardonic and self-deprecating overtones as indicated from the beginning of the album with a rallying cry of “youth knows no pain.”

The departure from standard break-up albums continues with the record’s consistently impressive hooks. There are no weak cuts, and half the album could have been sunny top-40 bait with simple lyrical substitution. “I Follow Rivers” and “Get Some” represent the early singles and some ongoing strong melodic chops; this is echo-laden Swede-pop at it’s most convincing, layered in harmonies and ambitious percussion. The juxtaposition of this spunky music with its dark lyrical content is where Li really bears her teeth, however, on lines dosed with heavy facetiousness like, “I’m your prostitute/you’re gonna get some” over surf-rock guitars and dance floor syncopations.

The other half of the record is downright heartbreaking. “Twice the pain, the suffering/oh this love is unrequited” bemoans Li on “Unrequited Love” over a simple guitar arpeggio. “My wounded rhymes make silent cries tonight” introduces “Sadness Is A Blessing”, one of the record’s bittersweet highlights. Some of her observations upon first glance seem a bit trite: “Sadness is my boyfriend, oh sadness I’m your girl”, but coupled with her ferocity from earlier in the record, we see the contextual progress of going from scorned and angry to broken down and miserable: “I’m screaming at nothing”. There’s no perceived light at the end of the tunnel as the album closes with the admission “you silent my song” over and over before the music goes quiet.

There’s a sad magnificence to Li’s songs, and a force pushing her voice forward that’s simply astounding. Her music balances the accessible outer pop shell with a deeply disturbed melancholy core creating a record that’s thoroughly enticing with each and every listen, and already one of the best of the year.


It was only a few weeks ago that Webcuts and half of Gothenburg invaded Slottskogen for Way Out West, but this weekend it was Stockholm’s turn for the charming Popaganda to lift my post-festival blues. Popaganda started as a free festival in 2002 at the university campus in Stockholm. After five years the festival was canceled due to conflicts between the student union and the organisers but was resurrected in 2008 with a change of venue to Eriksdalsbadet a public bath in central Stockholm. Since then the festival has focused on Swedish and international acts and has been graced by artists such as bob hund, Lykke Li, The Hidden Cameras, Camera Obscura and MGMT.

Popaganda Day One – 27 August 2010

This year we were presented with a fine mix of domestic and foreign indie and electronic bands as well as some coordinated swimming on both days. The first band on was Navet (The Hub). The group have just recorded their debut album in the reclusive island of Fårö where Ingmar Bergman used to live. Navet’s music and performance are a lot more approachable than Bergman’s movies luckily being electro pop to the core with the keyboard steering the direction and singer Julia’s crisp vocals following right behind. Even with one member short the band still put on decent show and the forthcoming single “Hello hello” showed a lot of potential. While First Aid Kit’s lovely Söderberg sisters might not consider themselves as “exotic” since they live ten minutes away with the tube they sound like the daughters of June Carter. Klara, on guitar, has a powerful voice while Julia, on keyboard and cither, has an equally beautiful, if slightly softer, tone. They complement one another well especially on new song “I Just Need a Friend”. Their love for country music was demonstrated by Gram Parson’s “Still Feeling Blue”, which were followed by two other covers, their now famous interpretations of Fleet Foxes’s “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” and Fever Ray’s “When I Grow Up by Fever Ray” (Karin Dreijer Andersson is their neighbor). The girls finish with a new song “The Lion Roars” which if I didn’t know better could’ve been another Fleet Foxes cover.

I have to be honest here — dance pop is not my thing, give me a good guitar riff to techno beats any day, however while Familjen (The Family) might not have got me over to the dance floor just yet, especially with “It began in Hässleholm” (Johan T Karlsson’s home town) a repetitive techno song that was first out of the gate, I was still pleasantly surprised by Johan and his friends. Johan’s lyrics are unexpectedly catchy live and his joy of performing was contagious. His friends included Andreas Tilliander and two well-known faces from the Swedish music scene Martin Sköld, the bassist player in Kent, and Markus Krunegård, solo artist and singer in Laakso. Towards the end Johan seemed a bit out of breath but when their first hit “Det snurrar i min skalle” (“My head is spinning”) started it got him and everyone else twirling.

Popaganda differs to Way out West in that it pleases a younger crowd (being cheaper no doubt helps) and during the first few hours of the festival I felt like I was part of a big sister program. However as the sun started to descend our favorite Scots came out and the grown-ups gathered for their treat. Belle & Sebastian started with a new song, “Didn’t See It Coming” with Sarah Martin on lead vocals, but was soon followed by “something for the old people” which was the early B&S classic “The State I Am In”. According to Stuart Murdoch the band didn’t quite know what to play, so they opted for a mix of songs since they felt they were among friends. Favorites like “If You’re Feeling Sinister” were definite crowd pleasers but it was the new song “I’m Not Living In the Real World” that became the sing-along tune thanks to Stevie Jackson who taught the audience the complicated “ooohh oohs” of the song. The only thing that was disappointing was the guest appearance by Linnea from Those Dancing Days since you could barely hear her voice in indie-country classic “Lazy Line Painter Jane”.

Robyn has gone from being a cute teen star in the 1990s to the queen of Swedish pop and the embodiment of a professional singer. Since she was playing in her own backyard (she went to school five minutes away) I expected something a little extra and while a great concert was delivered it lacked any special guests or extra oomph. Beginning with “Fembot”, a cute song about how robots also have feelings, she let her music speak (or sound) for itself. She didn’t exactly stand still much of the time and for the harder edged “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do“ she let go of the microphone and just danced and shadowboxed the whole song through. How I wished I was in her shape or had half of her energy. Robyn ended by thanking Stockholm and “With Every Heartbeat” you got the feeling that all of us there just want to say thank you Robyn.

Popaganda Day Two – 28 August 2010

Saturday began with The Concretes but I just couldn’t wake up and the band has always been better on album than live so I walked to the small stage where Vit Päls (White Fur) were about to start. I didn’t need to worry about being sleepy for long because it turns out that Vit Päls are like a strong cup of coffee in the morning, their energy was revitalising. Their lo-fi-pop is filled with witty lyrics and this is a band that should be seen in a live situation. Carl Johan Lundgren is one of the most charming singers I’ve seen for awhile but the band work as a whole with everyone in tune and engaged the entire time. “Kärleken bryr sig inte” (“Love Doesn’t Care”), an unreleased upbeat song was an instant favorite and had everyone singing along. Carl and the others didn’t really want to leave and after a short 30 minutes the stage crew had to tell them to stop to everyone’s disgruntlement.

Shout Out Loads are veterans when it comes to Popaganda having played four times at the festival and according to singer Adam Olenius the band had been waiting all summer for this night. This didn’t really come across during the show but the band delivered a competent mix of songs from all three albums. Highlights such as “Very Loud” and my personal favourite The Cure influenced “Tonight I Have To Leave It” came quite early. A nice touch was a version of Band of Horses’ “Is There a Ghost” translated into Swedish. Maybe Adam is getting a taste for singing in Swedish since he also translated the end verse of “Impossible”.

Popaganda is without a doubt the festival with the best looking audience I have ever seen. The hipsters and indie kids of Stockholm take fashion seriously, just like the evening’s next band Hurts. In their tailcoats and black suits the Manchester boys looked like a young Depeche Mode that had been groomed by the stylist on Mad Men. A more handsome band would be hard to find. It is not just looks though. Hurts starts out with the dramatic “Silver Lining” which brought you back to the ‘80s, whether you liked it or not, with their heavy use of synthesiser and infectious melodies. With their debut album, based on there performance at Popaganda we can expect more keyboards, dramatic songs, some choirs and perhaps even a power ballad or two.

If Hurts is the best looking band of the festival then The Magic Numbers are the friendliest. The two set of siblings had huge grins on their faces and seemed at home as soon as they clambered onto the stage. Starting out with three oldies “This is a song”, “Take a chance” and “Forever Lost” was a real treat and it continued in that pleasant manner, but sometimes things got a bit too comfortable. Still while The Magic Numbers didn’t surprise neither did they disappoint. To help interpret the Roches’ “Hammond Song” members of Shout out Louds, The Concretes and First Aid Kit came on to lend a hand but by then it was time to head over to the small stage for some cool Brooklyn youngsters. While Neon Indian looked good and sounded good, their songs blended into one another and after awhile my thirst took over. I thought I’d be back in jiffy but oh, how foolish! I was in the land of permits where alcohol was served in a closed off area. The queue to get into this inner sanctum was roughly forty metres long and by the time I had the first sip of my drink Neon Indian were rounding up.

To finish off this year’s Popaganda a blend of disco, a touch of pop and a dash of soul was served in the form of Hot Chip. After seeing trendy people all day it was refreshing to see Alexis Taylor in his white PJs, bright yellow jacket and glittery cap. What was he thinking? Well he doesn’t have to look cool, he just is cool. Hot Chip’s selection for the night was a good mix of old and new, including “Over and Over” and “Take It In”. Due to a lesson learned on Friday night I left before the end to avoid being stuck and queuing with 12 000 other people trying to get out and so Popaganda was over as the festival summer of 2010.

For our third year in a row, Webcuts will be out in force at the 2010 Way Out West Festival (August 12-14) in Gothenburg, Sweden, casting a watchful eye on proceedings and generally just having a damn good time. After the impressive line-up of last year, which had My Bloody Valentine, Glasvegas, Antony & The Johnsons, Grizzly Bear and Vampire Weekend all vying for our attention, Way Out West 2010 has once more secured an impressive array of acts from all corners of the globe.

The reformation of 2010 undoubtably falls on the shoulders of alterna-rock heroes, Pavement, who are slowly snaking their way around the globe. Having made a mixture of mostly decent to passable solo albums for the last decade by its chief songwriters, it’s a pleasant surprise to have them on stage together again. Iggy & The Stooges, well, what more can be said. Webcuts was a little too….. young, to get down in the dirt (as opposed to the sandpit) when The Stooges last came to town, but with Iggy Pop still soldiering on strong, this is going to be another must-see moment.

LCD Soundsystem, Chemical Brothers and MIA have been given the task of turning Slottskogen into one huge dancefloor. Given the impressive showing of the recent LCD Soundsystem album, this is one act we’re keen on seeing. Chemical Brothers will no doubt be throwing out a few block-rocking beats and MIA will be on the warpath for gingers. Luckily Sweden is almost 99% blonde. The new wave of indie hopefuls full of youthful exuberance and dashing good looks is represented by The Drums, Surfer Blood and Harlem. Representing the good ol’ Mother England are Laura Marling, La Roux, I Blame Coco and Marina & The Diamonds (just to name but a few).

Secretly, Webcuts are incredibly keen on seeing Die Antwoord. If you want to know why, this is why.  We should also mention that also appearing are Shearwater, The National, The Low Anthem and Beach House. Just a few bands that Webcuts contributors are all champions of and would be down the front cheering their heroes on. Now, normally, this is the point where we’d go into great detail about the homegrown acts appearing at Way Out West, but since our local Gothenburg girl is swanning around Spain at the moment, this will have to wait. Rest assured Sweden, you’ve been well taken care of.

Presumably, tickets are still available, but you’d best act quickly. Go here for further information.

For those of you with Spotify, the Way Out West organisers have put together a Way Out West 2010 playlist featuring tracks by many of the artists scheduled to appear. If you don’t know your Lykke Li from your La Roux, this will help you out.

See you there!

Arcade Fire
Dalhalla-Rättvik, Sweden
June 30, 2010

After eight and a half hours in a small crowded car with a backpack stuck on my lap and the rain pouring down I was wondering what the heck I was doing in the middle of nowhere. Could one concert really be worth this much trouble? The rain stopped and walking down the hill into the Dalhalla arena my doubts started dissipating and when the band came out on stage I knew I was in the right place.

Arcade Fire’s visits to Scandinavia have been few and their last visit in 2007 ended with Win Butler having surgery. This time he seemed to be in perfect shape, somewhat dazed to be playing in the middle of an old limestone quarry set in a forest far away from any well-known town. Dalhalla is truly a special place, or as Win put it “we should be thankful to the alien overlords for creating this beautiful place”. As stunning as it is it also demands a lot from the artists that play there. Firstly, the arena holds around 4000 people so the band has to attract a large number of people to come out into the woods. Secondly, there is natural distance between the band and the crowd created by the ten meter wide moat that surrounds the stage. Thirdly, the surroundings raise expectation and a normal show is just not enough.

Arcade Fire had a tough competition with summer holidays, the World Cup, the Peace & Love and Roskilde festivals all being on at the same time. Just over 2000 tickets were sold which felt like an injustice towards the band. The Canadians did do their best though to decrease the distance,  encouraging the audience to come closer. As the band struck the first chords of the second song of the night, “Keep the Car Running” people left their seats and flocked near to the stage. The band seemed to be living up to people’s expectations when they continued with two old songs “No Cars Go” and “Haiti”. Win and the rest seemed genuinely happy to be there and were swapping instruments with one another like chefs swap recipes.

Four songs from the upcoming album, The Suburbs, followed “Haiti”. It was interesting to get a sense of the new album. If it’s anything to go by judging from the songs played at Dalhalla it will not be as grand or as epic as the previous albums, instead being more scaled down. What was epic though was the interweaving of “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)” and “Rebellion (Lies)”, two huge crowd pleasers. As I looked around the crowd were all smiles and the energy was flowing from the stage. One band member had more energy than the rest and appeared he needed to cool down. After almost falling into the moat by dancing near the edge William Butler threw a drum in and jumped into the water after it.

After about an hour I was surprised to hear Win say that “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” was their last song. Of course there was an encore which consisted of three great songs, including my favorite “Intervention”, but I couldn’t help feel let down. The night was still so young and the sun still up. Maybe I’m greedy, an hour and a half is a decent gig but I just expected more. It was a beautiful concert but it could have been legendary. A few more tickets sold and the band playing a few more songs as the sun set and it could have been the concert of the decade.

Could it really be that this is the year we finally get to see a new album from Swedish indie popsters The Radio Dept.? According to Labrador Records, their third album Clinging To A Scheme is being released on April 21. Webcuts remains a bit skeptical.

Rumors of a third album started circulating already in 2007 and when the single “Freddy and the Trojan Horse” was released at the beginning of 2008 it seemed the wait was almost over but as an old Swedish proverb says “the one who is waiting for something great can never wait too long”.

Judging from the first single ‘David’, released earlier this year, and the second single “Heaven’s on fire”, it will be worth the wait.  The follow-up single “Heaven’s on fire” arrives on March 23 through limited release via Labrador Records. Only 2000 copies of the CD single are being released so head to Labrador’s website and get your copy. The single features a sample from Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and also includes a cover of “All about our Love” by Sade.

The band is also heading out on tour, starting off in Asia with a handful of shows in Japan and one in Singapore. The boys return to home for spring shows in Scandinavia, the UK and Italy and of course for the traditional some summer festivals.

The Asian and European live dates are as follows:

03/04/10 Japan: Osaka –Sunsui
04/04/10 Japan: Nagoya – Tight Rope
05/04/10 Japan: Tokyo – Fever
07/04/10 Singapore – Zouk
08/05/10 Sweden: Uppsala – Västmanlands-Dala Nation
13/05/10 Sweden: Linköping, – Herrgår’n
14/05/10 Sweden: Malmö – Kulturbolaget
15/05/10 Denmark: Copenhagen – Lille Vega
20/05/10 UK: London – Bush Hall
21/05/10 UK: London – Stag & Dagger Festival 2010
22/05/10 UK: Glasgow – Stag & Dagger Festival 2010
22/05/10 Sweden: Stockholm – Debaser Medis
27/05/10 Sweden: Hässleholm – Siesta!Festivalen
02/06/10 Italy: Milan – La Casa 139
03/06/10 Italy: Ravenna – Hana-Bi
04/06/10 Italy: Rome – Circolo degli Artisti
05/06/10 Italy: Turin: Spazio 211
29/07/10 Sweden: Emmaboda – Emmaboda Festival
14/08/10 Sweden: Göteborg – Way Out West

When Victoria Bergsman left the Concretes a few years ago it appeared as if she was finished with the music industry. Leaving a band about to make it big is not often a smart career move but then again Victoria doesn’t seem to be the person that is afraid to break norms or take alternative routes. Her new album demonstrates this more than anything. In recording East of Eden, her second album as Taken by Trees, Victoria took the path south of the Himalayas and east of Persian Gulf to the city of Lahore in Pakistan to discover the rhythms of the east.

By overcoming cultural differences, struggles to keep the electricity going and through encounters and cooperation with Sufi musicians an album out of the ordinary has been created. While Open Field was a minimalist album with few instruments on every song East of Eden contains far more layers. The South Asian influences can be heard more or less throughout the album with local musicians doing backing vocals, traditional South Asian drums and various flutes frequently being used. It would however be erroneous to place the album within the category of world music. Victoria is after all the Swedish crown princess of indiepop. Her twee-like voice  and the straightforward and somewhat melancholy lyrics on the album verify this.

Opening track, “To Lose Someone” best encompasses the different influences. It‘s a gentle pop song but with an extra spice to it through the various Pakistani instruments being used. The mark of Dan Lissvik (one half of Swedish production team “Studio”), who helped produced the album, is also noticeable with certain rhythms and the beats of soft drums (not bongos but dholak and tabla) which brings to mind his band. East of Eden is also at times reminiscent of El Perro del Mar’s new album, perhaps a result of both being produced by members of Studio with Sarah Assbring (El Perro del Mar) herself contributing backing vocals on the album.

East of Eden at times does suffer from tracks running too similar to each other, but there are some exceptions. In “Tidens Gång” Victoria sings in her native tongue and sadly enough it doesn’t seem to fit. It’s not that she sings in Swedish (“Bekännelse”, also in Swedish fits beautifully), it’s rather the sound of the song which departs from the rest of the album, bringing troubadours from the early 1970s to mind. It all falls into place though with Victoria’s reinterpretation of Animal Collective’s “My Girls” in “My Boys”. Victoria makes it her own by mixing the influences from her past with her current surrounding just right. The second album can be the hardest one to produce and Bergsmen hasn’t taken the easy path. The end result is delightful and one that surprises. Hopefully it will inspire other acts to choose more unconventional routes in their creative process.

Her first two albums Look! It’s El Perro del Mar (2005) and From the Valley to the Stars (2008) were widely acclaimed for both Assbring’s twee but plaintive vocals and the mix of dreamy indie and ’60s pop. Her third disc Love Is Not Pop saw her team up with Rasmus Hägg from Sweden electronic pop duo Studio and a shift to soul was lauded in these pages — “The theme of the album is that love, cliché as it might sound, hurts.”

September 12 will see the album released in Australian on Rogue/Inertia expanding the slender seven tracks of the original with an additional three remixes — “L Is for Love (Love Motion Disco’s additional love remix)”, “Change of Heart (J Rintamäki remix)” and “Let Me In (Nhessingtons remix)” — also scheduled for US release on October 20 on The Control Group.

Assbring recently wowed her hometown at the recent Way Out West festival and is likely to do the same when she supports the equally charming Sarah Blasko, or on two solo dates. With the Blasko dates quickly selling out it would be Webcuts’ suggestion for those lucky enough to live in either Sydney or Melbourne to get a ticket to her initmate solo shows quick smart. Same goes for you Adelaide.

If that’s not all Sarah appears on fellow country(wo)man’s Taken by Trees sophomore album East of Eden released in most markets on September 8. Go Sarah go!

El Perro del Mar:

The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Monday 5th October
Tickets online from Moshtix

Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Thursday 8th October
Tickets from Moshtix

Supporting Sarah Blasko:

The Forum, Melbourne
Friday 2nd October (SOLD OUT)
(Sunday 4 October features The Brunettes supporting instead of El Perro)

Norwood Concert Hall, Adelaide
Saturday 3rd October

Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Friday 9th October (SOLD OUT)

The Tivoli, Brisbane
Saturday 10th October (SOLD OUT)
(Sunday 11th October features The Brunettes supporting instead of El Perro)