Swedish pop group with signs of California reflected in their shiny surfaces
*Hometown*: Stockholm, Sweden.
*The lineup*: Robin Eveborn (vocals, keyboards), Fredric Lindblom (drums, vocals), Marcus Lindblom (guitars), Kim Lindqvist (bass, vocals), Camilla Dahlstedt (vocals, synths).
*The background*: Last Lynx are from Stockholm via Los Angeles. Not that they live in LA or travel there much - they may never have been there, we have no idea - but their music is steeped in Californian manners and mores. There are echoes of West Coast easy-listening, of mainstream '70s and '80s pop, of Yacht Rock, even of chillwave. Notice there a narrowing of reach as you move from music that was arguably the most popular of its era - Fleetwood Mac particularly - to music that ironically or lovingly paid it homage to limited commercial effect, to music with only the vaguest hint of the enormity of the original audience. Last Lynx have the potential to be bigger than a Washed Out (who, by the way, we love). Besides, they're not a laptop loner, they're a band, and as such they're more Haim-like.
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Or Cardigans-like. Let's not ignore the other key factor behind their luscious poppiness: their Swedishness. We're not talking Max Martin or any of those deathlessly machine-perfect dance producers du jour. We're talking about that innate knack for the mellifluous, melodic and rhythmic peculiar to Scandinavians (see also Denmark's Quadron). They emerged a year or so ago with debut track Killing Switch, which shot to #1 on the Hype Machine days after its release. It could have been about euthanasia or merely a metaphor for a heartless lover, but the music was Haim/Mac-esque in its unruffled smoothness.
Next release, the Alaska EP, featured midtempo funkmospherica worthy of Empire Of The Sun and was followed by the Ocean Reels EP, produced by Lasse Mårtén (Lykke Li, Nikki & the Dove, Peter, Bjorn & John etc). It's an excellent showcase for their brand of lush restrained emotionalism - on Late Disco, Robin Eveborn and Camilla Dahlstedt come across like a frozen tundra Ben Watt and Tracy Thorn, dispatching with icy passion such missives as, "I lost my way back then - hope you didn't think I was a monster, but I am." City Lights is electronica-lite, but things take a turn for the intensely poppy on Leave Them Behind, notwithstanding the references to suicide. The Great Water Sequel recalls Wings/ELO with a dash of Polyphonic Spree. Luminous Blue warns about trapdoors while sounding like a gateway to paradise. If the new single Lacuna - available as a free download through the band's Facebook page for a limited period - is any measure, their forthcoming Rifts EP, another collaboration with Mårtén, should be another doozy. It is gorgeous, although as ever we can't vouch for its success beyond the purely theoretical.
*The buzz*: "So addictive it should have a health warning."
*The truth*: Deoderised pop with a lingering after-note.
*Most likely to*: Be fragrant.
*Least likely to*: Be vagrants.
*What to buy*: Last Lynx release new single Lacuna on January 20.
*File next to*: Cardigans, Haim, Empire Of The Sun, Everything But The Girl.
*Links*: facebook.com/LastLynxMusic.
Wednesday's new band: Lapland. Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.
*Hometown*: Stockholm, Sweden.
*The lineup*: Robin Eveborn (vocals, keyboards), Fredric Lindblom (drums, vocals), Marcus Lindblom (guitars), Kim Lindqvist (bass, vocals), Camilla Dahlstedt (vocals, synths).
*The background*: Last Lynx are from Stockholm via Los Angeles. Not that they live in LA or travel there much - they may never have been there, we have no idea - but their music is steeped in Californian manners and mores. There are echoes of West Coast easy-listening, of mainstream '70s and '80s pop, of Yacht Rock, even of chillwave. Notice there a narrowing of reach as you move from music that was arguably the most popular of its era - Fleetwood Mac particularly - to music that ironically or lovingly paid it homage to limited commercial effect, to music with only the vaguest hint of the enormity of the original audience. Last Lynx have the potential to be bigger than a Washed Out (who, by the way, we love). Besides, they're not a laptop loner, they're a band, and as such they're more Haim-like.
Reading on mobile? Click here to listen
Or Cardigans-like. Let's not ignore the other key factor behind their luscious poppiness: their Swedishness. We're not talking Max Martin or any of those deathlessly machine-perfect dance producers du jour. We're talking about that innate knack for the mellifluous, melodic and rhythmic peculiar to Scandinavians (see also Denmark's Quadron). They emerged a year or so ago with debut track Killing Switch, which shot to #1 on the Hype Machine days after its release. It could have been about euthanasia or merely a metaphor for a heartless lover, but the music was Haim/Mac-esque in its unruffled smoothness.
Next release, the Alaska EP, featured midtempo funkmospherica worthy of Empire Of The Sun and was followed by the Ocean Reels EP, produced by Lasse Mårtén (Lykke Li, Nikki & the Dove, Peter, Bjorn & John etc). It's an excellent showcase for their brand of lush restrained emotionalism - on Late Disco, Robin Eveborn and Camilla Dahlstedt come across like a frozen tundra Ben Watt and Tracy Thorn, dispatching with icy passion such missives as, "I lost my way back then - hope you didn't think I was a monster, but I am." City Lights is electronica-lite, but things take a turn for the intensely poppy on Leave Them Behind, notwithstanding the references to suicide. The Great Water Sequel recalls Wings/ELO with a dash of Polyphonic Spree. Luminous Blue warns about trapdoors while sounding like a gateway to paradise. If the new single Lacuna - available as a free download through the band's Facebook page for a limited period - is any measure, their forthcoming Rifts EP, another collaboration with Mårtén, should be another doozy. It is gorgeous, although as ever we can't vouch for its success beyond the purely theoretical.
*The buzz*: "So addictive it should have a health warning."
*The truth*: Deoderised pop with a lingering after-note.
*Most likely to*: Be fragrant.
*Least likely to*: Be vagrants.
*What to buy*: Last Lynx release new single Lacuna on January 20.
*File next to*: Cardigans, Haim, Empire Of The Sun, Everything But The Girl.
*Links*: facebook.com/LastLynxMusic.
Wednesday's new band: Lapland. Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.