What's More Swedish Than Ikea?...

Swedish pop duos (especially the one male/one female variety).

Note to reader: I plan for this to be post number 1 of 2 in a 2-part series on Swedish music. I can't say exactly why I have so much pent up angst vis-a-vis the Swedes and their tunes that I need to go all around the internets blogging about it, but I do - and I want to share it with the world. I think that as you delve deeper into this issue with me, you'll catch on.

Aunt C recently shared with us her approval for our planned name for our boy, Jonas, explaining that she thought the name extra special because it was a Swedish name. So, she further explained, if he's born blonde and grows up to live in Stockholm, he'll have no real trouble assimilating.

Great point Aunt C! I think we're doing the right thing with the name too - the more I say it in my head the more I love it. We just need to figure out a good Swedish last name now. Jonas, we can't wait for you to come (but we will, because you have to cook some more). In the meantime, let me give you a couple of heads-up on the pop music aspects of your soon-to-be future counterfeit heritage.


For me, it all begins with Roxette. Or maybe ABBA, which is a double inter-gender Swedish pop duo - so I guess they don't count since that makes them a quartet. So let's start with Roxette, a group made up of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. They had a couple of top ten hits in the U.S. in the 1980s, specifically a hit that they'll probably still be playing by the time you, Jonas, are old enought to listen to (digital) radio: it's called "It Must Have Been Love." I also just found out that they are huge elsewhere around the world, especially in Latin America. They are in fact one of the highest selling acts of all time with 75 million records sold worldwide! They set a high bar for the rest of the co-ed Swedes. [Note: Roxette is shown in the first picture at the top left.]

Sort of jumping from the earliest example to one of the most cutting edge examples, next consider a band called Wildbirds and Peacedrums made up of Mariam Wallentin and Andreas Werliin. I love that band name, it taps into that Strawberry Alarm Clock verve. They are the next funny looking duo on the left (look for the guy in the Cosby sweater holding the two fake goldfish). It's like a hippy drum circle meets P.J. Harvey with an endearing Euro accent.


The next picture shows another sullen looking young man with a very blond femme fatale. That's Club 8, comprised of Karolina Komstedt and Johan Angergård. I don't know much about them, other than that they put out a lot of pretty danceable bossa nova / triphop joints, and that they have that quintessential Swedish look that must not go unnoticed.


"The Knife" is a brother-sister electropop duo of Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer (See: boyish-looking gymnast and his too-much makeup-wearing trainer). Some might categorize these folks as weird. They distinguish themselves by eschewing normal pop sensibilities by (1) generally refusing to make public appearances and interviews, (2) if they do appear in promotional way they wear masks (mostly venetian masks that feature long bird beaks), and (3) until recently, they outright refused to perform live concerts. Atypical Swedes in that they haven't quite fully adopted a twee and fancy-free lifestyle, but typical in that they are a brother and sister performing pair (very common among this community) and that they have an English moniker and that they sing, mostly, in English.


Let's take a moment to acknowledge how this business all started coming together in my mind. Jonas, I suppose all this Swedemania started to brew with the recent popularity of a song called "Young Folks" by the Swedish group Peter Bjorn and John. The song features a duet between a frisky Swedish male voice and a seductive female voice (what I learned later was the guest-starring voice of Victoria Bergman of a group called The Concretes). Having never seen a photograph of PB & J, and only having seen their animated video for this song which features a boy and a girl, I thought this group was a co-ed duo. A shot from that video is shown at left, and you may just see it posted later in part 2 of this series.

So, it made me think, "Wow, you know I think there are a lot of co-ed Swedish duos out there, I wonder if there are more of them that I don't know of." Then I started doing some research and found the duos mentioned above. What I also found out was that PB & J was in fact made up of three dudes: Peter, Bjorn, and John. I don't know how I could have been deceived there - maybe it was the lack of commas in the name. Anyway, this discovery made me start thinking about all-male Swedish groups. As I started to look further into all these Swedish groups, the more MALE Swedish pop duos I noticed, just like their co-ed counterparts. Here are a couple of interesting ones.


The first is The Legends. English name, sing in English, happy-go-lucky sound, strange promo photos. See how the pattern is not really that different. Where are they running to anyhow? Wherever it is, I hope they get there soon because they look like they're tired. But, study that photo carefully because, if you do, you'll notice that this "band," this "duo" is actually just one man! It goes to show you that there is some self-awareness among Swedish musicians and they realize that what they should be doing is BEING A DUO and not a solo act. And if you're not a duo, well then you better Photoshop yourself into a picture of yourself, and fast. What's even crazier, and more telling about this identity crisis is that on The Legends' website they (he) say that they (he) are (is) a band "comprised of nine members." Who does this shapeshifting Swede think he is? Well, it's none other than Johan Angergård - the aforementioned sullen guy from Club 8. He is also known to haunt the band Acid House Kings. Hey, Johan, what gives? You can't just be part of a duo and then not be part of a duo as the situation fits you best. Stick to the script! You and blondie (preferably your sister) start a band, you make happy little records, and you get huge in Latin America. What's so hard about that?


It doesn't help that Johan has a enabler to his schizophrenia: the record label Labrador Records. See, Labrador is the imprint for all of his Club 8, The Legends, and Acid House Kings projects. So, while I was on Labrador's website, I checked in on the rest of the label's lineup and discovered that the company is filthy with duos.

Choosing to mention them purely on the strangeness of their promo shot, consider if you will Labrador mates The Sound of Arrows made up of Stefan Storm and Oskar Gullstrand. "Hold still Oskar! You've missed this one glob of product. Here let me," Stefan says (or maybe it's the other way around). I promise to check out their music soon and let you know if it's as great as these Forever 21 catalog outtake photos.

And finally, this brings me to my favorite new Swedish duo of Johan Hedberg and Peter Gunnarson. The name of their band is Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. That's them with the dog.

I see that picture and I make up this story in my head about how their dog Sasha has just told Johan and Peter that he wants to run off and join the circus and that this will be their last afternoon frolic together in this meadow of heather. Johan cuddles up to Sasha and says, "But the school children! How will I break the news to them?" while Peter gives a thousand-yard stare because he's thinking about how much trouble Sasha has been all this time what with the chewing of his Ikea futon and all, and how, now that Sasha is joining the circus, he can just get a goldfish. "Yeah, a goldfish, that'll be easier than Sasha...and then I'll have more time to figure out this 'Wildbirds and Peacedrums' business."