The Sounds

Wistful is not a word that immediately comes to mind when describing the music of The Sounds. After all, this is a band that has swaggered and strutted its way around the world, playing 500 shows in 25 countries following the release of their last album, Dying to Say This to You , in 2006.    Powered by attitude, ambition, and adrenaline, The Sounds have earned an ardent global fan base with their frenzied live performances, applying punk-like provocation to a euphoria-inducing combination of soaring melodies, staccato guitar riffs, bubbling synths, and boisterous beats.

Garnering loads of hipster cred along the way, the band--comprised of vocalist Maja Ivarsson; guitarist Felix Rodriguez; bassist Johan Bengtsson; keyboardist Jesper Anderberg; and drummer Fredrik Nilsson--has been compared to some of the most revered New Wave bands of yore. Yet, the kinetic fervor of The Sounds is unmistakably contemporary in its musical and emotional expression of today's tumultuous times.

So, where does wistfulness fit into this mix?   One has only to listen to the songs on the band's new album, Crossing the Rubicon , to know that a lot has happened to this close-knit group of friends since they originally came together as a band in their hometown of Helsingborg, Sweden.   Amidst the washes of guitars and sinuous synths are lyrics that speak of loss, sadness, and the dark side of human nature. "We've been through a lot," says Maja, regarding the band's idealistic journey from their days as a hometown band playing high school gyms and local pizza parlors.   "This has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for us since then," she says. "There's been a lot of frustration and anxiety, but there have also been a lot of happy times. Some of the lyrics on this album are about looking back and seeing how time has passed--not with bitterness but with a bit of melancholy.   We started this band when we were teenagers, and we were so naïve.   It was all about playing music, drinking, hooking up, and a lot of teenage angst."

Formed in 1999, the Sounds released their first album, Living in America , in Sweden in 2002.   Hard work and ballsy brio ultimately paid off for the band in their native land, garnering them a platinum album, Swedish Grammys, and the requisite but unwanted tabloid coverage. When the album was released in the U.S. the following year, the band made its way Stateside and proceeded to sweat and pummel their way through gig after gig--as headliners; as the opening act for The Strokes; and as the buzz band on the 2004 Warped Tour--recruiting a growing and rabid fan base along the way.   "We were really young back then," says Jesper. "We didn't know anything except how to tour and play. We came to the U.S. and did ten tours on the first album."

The band returned to markets three and four times over the next two years, the size of their venues growing with each new tour.    Fans were responding to the band's cunning hooks and edgy rhythms, but just as intoxicating was the irresistible insolence that both honored and defied every rock cliché in the book.   They were a feast for the style-conscious and ecstasy to the ears of true music lovers.    Adding to their overpowering appeal was the electrical charge that seemed to course between band members, creating a unified and magnetizing stage presence.  

So, things were looking promising for the band in the U.S. upon the release of Dying to Say This to You , which went on to reach the Top Ten in Sweden and #1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart.   The critically-acclaimed album featured the hit "Tony The Beat", which charted at #43 on Rolling Stone 's "Top Songs Of 2006".   A number of other tracks from the album were prominently featured on television and in films, and this quickly became the bands most successful record worldwide.

Touring to promote the album, the members found that their vision for the band was not necessarily in sync with that of their record label.   "All we wanted was to stay out on the road and build on the success we had already had by continuing to tour, both in the U.S. and worldwide," says Jesper.   Needing to play by their own rules, the band got themselves out of their worldwide record deal and took control of their musical destiny.   "We did some well-paid shows on our own and then used that money to tour Europe," says Jesper.   "That helped opened up several more countries for us."     

Although touring has always been their most effective marketing tool, playing live serves a much more profound purpose. "Touring is our biggest inspiration," says Jesper.   "It has given us so much experience and so many stories to tell."     The bittersweet "Home is Where Your Heart Is," on the new album, conveys the depth of emotion that connects the band to the road.   "It's about how much we've learned about the world from touring," says Maja.   "It's helped us to not be afraid of letting go of the past, so we can stand on our own two feet.   Home for us is always where we play music, which is mostly on the road.   That is where our hearts are."  

Free to chart their own course, the Sounds formed their own label and used their own money to record what has became Crossing the Rubicon , despite the fact that offers were now flying in from majors all over the world.   "It feels good to have more control over our music and the direction we want the band to take," says Jesper.   The band has partnered with independent label Original Signal Recordings for the North American release.  

Despite the conviction of their decision to go it alone, the band knew that they were entering unknown territory. "The album title is actually about where we've been at for the last year," says Felix. "When we made the decision to do everything ourselves, we felt we were crossing the point of no return."   

The band's primary artistic goal was to create a set of songs that tell an emotional story as part of an album-long listening experience.   "We want people to remember this as a whole album, not a bunch of singles," says Jesper, who shares the band's main songwriting duties with Felix.   "We want it to relate to people's lives today, but we also hope they'll listen to it in the future as a way to remember what they were feeling now.   It's like the kind of feeling you get when you listen to an album that you loved in high school."

The band spent all of 2008 writing and recording demos in their studio in Malmo, Sweden, their current hometown. To help them realize their creative vision, the band enlisted producers whose work they have admired over the years. The album's first single, "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" was one of three songs recorded in New York with producing pair Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, and James Iha, former guitarist for Smashing Pumpkins. "We had worked with Adam and James before," says Jesper. "They're old friends of ours.  We had been out of the game for a while as far as recording goes, and it gave us a certain comfort level in the studio to work with people that we liked and whose work we knew.   Propulsive and melodic, "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" borrows its title from a quote by Ronnie Wood about his Rolling Stone band mate Keith Richards. "He actually said 'No one sleeps when he's awake,'" says Maja. "We liked it because it also describes us as a band and how we've never given up on our dream."

"Beatbox" is the band's tribute to the simple joys of a drum machine. "I originally did a vocal that had this Donna Summer 70s vibe, but it didn't go with the sing-song chorus," says Maja.  "Felix wrote some fun lyrics and came up with the rap part.   It's a different direction for us, but I love how it came out."  

The singer switches gears completely for "Midnight Sun," using her lower register to convey a mournfulness that, at face value, might seem at odds with the song's subject: the city of Los Angeles. "We've built up a large fan base there," says Jesper, referring in particular to the 4,000 people who helped the band sell out the Palladium the last time they were in town. "In Sweden, L.A.'s considered this really glamorous place, but there's so much more to it than that. We have a great time there, and it's become a second home to us."

It was while in Los Angeles that the band recorded the two tracks "4 Songs & A Fight" and "My Lover" with Jeff Turzo and Matt Mahaffey, the duo who record and produce under the name Wired All Wrong.   Turzo is one half of electro-rock band God Lives Underwater, and Mahaffey was a founding member of the power-pop band Self with his late brother Mike.   Mahaffey has also worked with Beck and was part of the singer's live band on tours for Guero and The Information .   "Jeff and Matt think more like we do in that they like to experiment with different sounds," says Felix.  "Jeff has a lot of cool electronic gear," Jesper adds. "He's got this keyboard from the 80s, and he also builds his own equipment."

"4 Songs & A Fight" is about just that--the band was set to play four songs at a show and ended up in an alleged fight with another band. Maja's taunting vocals are egged on by the bullying rhythm section, a musical skirmish that ends with the band joining each other in harmony.  "My Lover" opens with gurgling, blissed-out keyboards, but gives way to a battering beat as it describes romantic combat at its most violent.  "It's a very dark story," says Maja, "but I love the tension of mixing a danceable beat with really dark lyrics."  

The band also spent time in Los Angeles recording at the studio of their friend Tim Anderson of Ima Robot, who supported The Sounds in 2004.  "We've toured with Tim," says Jesper, "and he really knows what kind of music we want to make because he's seen us live.   He's old-fashioned in the way that he wants music to deliver specific emotions.  That was really cool for us."  Together with Anderson, the band produced "Dorchester Hotel," "Underground," and "The Only Ones."   

The closest thing to social commentary on the album, "The Only Ones" sees the disintegration of society through war and violence as a parallel to the loss of an idyllic childhood relationship. Opening with just piano and voice, the spare arrangement lets the lyrics and the longing vocals tell the story for most of the song, slowly building to an ecstatic crescendo of guitar and drums. "That's a bit of a mature sound for us," says Felix. "We wanted the emotions to speak for themselves, so we gave the song more of a live sound."
 
"Underground" is both a yearning remembrance of things past as well as a full-on tribute to the ecstatic joys of New Wave clichés--the bopping beat, the angsty bass line, the candy-coated chorus, and the perky keyboards remind us that the past is always available to us by way of our musical memories.  "That's one of my favorites," says Felix. "It's meant to evoke feelings of what life was like back in the day."   The cheerful, chiming guitars of "Dorchester Hotel" mask a sick story of addiction. "It's a made up story about a guy that does things with his body that he's not proud of, but he can't stop doing it." The middle of the song starts with an intimate breakdown, but builds to a wild frenzy before powering into the final uninhibited sing along chorus.

With just a few songs left to record, the band turned to British producer Mark Saunders to help them round out their musical vision at his studio in New York .  (Saunders' prior credits include The Cure, Depeche Mode, Tricky, and Neneh Cherry.) "We knew he'd be really good with the electronic sounds on 'Lost in Love' and 'Home Is Where the Heart Is'" says Maja.  

"Lost in Love" is perhaps the most vulnerable song on the album.   Sounding like a young girl adrift in her own emotional torture, an effect made to sound all the more tragic by sorrowful, undulating synths, Maja struggles to free herself from an immolating desire. "I love that long synthesizer part in the middle," says the singer. "It's gives the song so much more meaning.  It's like there's beauty in the midst of all of this pain."

The band finished writing "Home Is Where the Heart Is" on their last day in the studio.   "I went into the booth to sing it, and when I was done, I said to Jesper, 'I can't believe that's me singing.' I got so emotional about my own contribution. It's one of my all-time favorites from all of our records."  

The album's instrumental coda, the unlisted track "Goodnight Freddy," was composed and recorded by Jesper late at night in the studio. "I used the kind of plastic keyboard that kids play with to record that song," says Jesper.  "Fredrik was sleeping in the other room, and he woke up and said, 'That sounds really good.'  I yelled back, 'Goodnight Freddy!"

Fittingly, the band also produced the title track on their own, coming together to harmonize on lyrics that symbolize their mission to cross unchartered territory, bonded by their love for music and for each other, hoping to reach a place where "there's no time, and no space, no mistakes to erase." To complete the album and help them realize their creative vision, the band brought in revered British mixer Tim Palmer, known for mixing diverse and classic albums for artists like Robert Plant, The Cure and U2, to tie the album all together.

The band's sense of wistfulness has only enhanced the depth of their vision and their determination to succeed. "With the perspective we've gained from all of the soul-searching we've done over the last couple of years, it's no longer important to us where we came from," says Maja.   "All that matters is where we're going.   The point of having done 500 shows is that it will enable us to do 500 more.   We'll be out there as long as our fans want to hear us play."

http://www.myspace.com/thesounds

For more information, please contact Steven Trachtenbroit at Big Hassle Media