For a country that’s five times smaller than Blighty, Sweden’s recent output of pretty-pink pop pickers is remarkable. Escaping the mainstream banality of - the hyperbolically bloated - ABBA, gorgeous tunesmiths like Jens Lekman, The Concretes and  Peter, Bjorn & John have filtered into the hearts of both snot-nosed musos and tune-hugging mainstreamites with their clutterless, pursed lip  melodics.

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“We started a duo. And then we found a name that reminded us of of Japan, California, deep secrets and sunsets. Pacific!” - Björn Synneby of Pacific!

In an interview with Anthem Magazine earlier this year, Björn Synneby had this to say about Swedish music: “The Swedish hype is very 2006. Bands like José González, Jens Lekman and El Perro Del Mar went around the world.” Don’t get the other half of the eternally sunny Gothenburg wrong he loves Swedish music (he was even a member of El Perro Del Mar), but he realizes that this resurgence of interest in all things Sweden is already becoming sadly passe. The electro-surf duo is rounded out by Daniel Högberg and they traffic in the floral sounds that Balearic groups, like Boat Club, Air France and Studio have reintroduced to another generation of listeners. The rebirthed genre’s link to the psychedelic grooves of 1960’s California surf music and neu-cool factor of Parisian dance (Daft Punk, Justice) and old disco music ( runs as a sleek antecedent to the more sparse and stark electronic beats that prevail in Stockholm-the home of The Knife and Zeigeist. Continue Reading