A Free Man

A Free Man’s trip to Sweden is coming to an end and I’ve saved the best for last. Malmö’s Moonbabies are easily one of the best bands that I’ve come across during my time here. Their American label, Parasol Records, tells me: “Here they are, the Moonbabies – your new favorite band.” I don’t know if they’re using Jedi mind tricks on me, but they are pretty close to right. I haven’t been able to stop playing their 2007 LP “Moonbabies at the Ballroom”, their third full-length record, since I first heard it last week. It’s a beautifully lush record, with masterful instrumentation and a dreamy yet sauntering tempo. Ola Frick and Carina Johannson take turns on the lead vocals, which keeps things from slowing down as the album progresses.

Fellow music blogger Marcy of Lost In Your Inbox (LIYIB) turned me on to the Moonbabies. Since it was such a great tip, I thought it only fair to give her the opportunity to ask a few questions. Ola Frick, the male half of the Malmö duo, joined us for a chat on A Free Man’s virtual couch.

MP3: Moonbabies – “War On Sound”
MP3: Moonbabies – “Take Me To The Ballroom”

AFM: You have an incredibly rich and full sound for a duo. How do you achieve this? Are you guys playing multiple instruments or do you bring in additional players?

OF: We both play all the instruments on the records, but sometimes bring in some friends on drums. I’m pretty good at drumming, I guess, but sometimes the song demands a bit more “solid” work, and I’m not that solid. More like playing way too fast and crazy. Carina usually does most of the piano, vintage Moog synths & vibrafone or Glockenspiel or those kinds of sounds. I play the guitars & bass.

LIYIB: I love that even though your music is melodic and poppy, it very often has a chaotic edge to it or a sense that there is something off kilter happening right under the surface. You referred to it once as “messed up frenzy and beauty.” Is that something that one of you brings to the songwriting process more than the other?

OF: Nah, I think Carina and I feel the same thing most of the times. We both have our roots in melodic music as well as noisier stuff, so it’s a natural thing when we feel that something need to be messed up. But it’s not that we plan it, it’s just something that comes out of intuition.

AFM: I’m not a production wonk, but he production on your latest record is very clever – a little bit of distortion, enough to make the record the sonic equivalent of the visuals from the “War On Sound” video. Who turned the knobs for you on “Moonbabies at the Ballroom”?

OF: I did the recordings and mixing, and produced it together with Carina. We’ve recorded all our albums ourselves in the same room here in Malmö. We use it both as a rehearsal place and a recording studio. The inspiring part is that we can go in any direction we’d like with a song, and not like most bands write songs, then rehearse, then go into the studio. With our songs it happens everything at the same time. We write as we are recording, and trying out different arrangements. That’s why we got loads and loads of alternative versions of our songs. For some songs we have like 5-6 different versions that are so different in tempo, instrumentation it’s almost like a completely different song. Sometimes we change the lead vocals, or change the key of the track, cause it suits one of us better to be the lead singer. It’s great fun, but takes a lot of time. But we always take as long as it takes to record an album, both of us hates rushed-productions. You want it to last for years ahead. And I still love all the albums we’ve done.

AFM: Who did the video for “Take Me To The Ballroom”? The “Eyes Wide Shut” homage is fantastic.

Both the “Take Me To The Ballroom ” and “War on Sound” videos were done by two of the greastest people I know – Eric Althin and Shannon Henegan of Zombieduck Productions. They’re destined for greatness, and I really hope we will continue working together with them for many years more.

AFM: You guys have been in action since the late 90’s and thus are well placed to have observed the absolute cascade of indie-pop bands to come out of Sweden in the last few years. Why is the Swedish soil so suddenly fertile for great music?

OF: I think Swedes are raised with a good sense of melody and hooks. Swedish people like to be productive and find happiness through their work, so it’s more about putting a lot of hard work in it then anything else, I reckon. Also it’s bloody cold and rains for 8-9 months a year here. I mean it’s no place for humans to peacefully roam around outdoors.

AFM: How does Malmö compare musically to the other Swedish musical hubs – Gothenburg and Stockholm?

OF: There’s no difference musically, but Malmö has a more glam-rock and carefree attitude. Gothenburg has a lot of these forced false singing happy phonies ad Stockholm is all over the place, but bands tend to be more nervous about their appearance and come off a bit stiff. Very generally speaking.

AFM: Which of your songs is the most “Swedish”?

Ahh, let me think. Good question, I’ve never ever thought about this before. I don’t think we’ve ever done anything that sounds Swedish. Although I think “Cocobelle” has some resemblance to some traditional Swedish summer songs like “ta mig till havet”.

AFM: What other Swedish bands should we be paying attention to?

I’m actually not a big fan of the current Swedish music scene. There are a few bands & people that are doing fantastic stuff though, like The Knife, Shout Out Louds & Tiger Lou. And I used to to listen a lot to stuff like Komeda, KVLR, Refused & Fireside. They’re all from the north and pretty much not active anymore. From the local Malmö scene I think you should check out Twin Piloda (Måns Wieslander), Apa State Mental & Emerald Park all which I’ve been involved with during the last years.

LIYIB: You are a couple both performing and writing music and in the rest of your lives. I can’t imagine working with my husband in addition to living with him–how do you approach so much togetherness?

OF: It’s actually great most of the times, honestly it is. We get to be together on tour, all those months in the studio, and since we’re always talking about the music in some way or another from we wake up til we go to sleep, I think it would be really hard to have any other kind of relationship. The downside is that we rarely get any personal time – like doing things a “normal” couple does, because it’s always work, work, work… but fun work. We actually came up with the idea that we should take every Sunday off from music, but that just didn’t last very long. One Sunday I think…

AFM: Fantasy time – what artist, living or dead, would you most like to have join Moonbabies for a tour or recording session?

AH, There’s so many people I would love to work with, but the one that comes into mind would be Jim O´Rourke. He’s one of our biggest inspirations, both musically and studio wise. I wouldn´t mind touring with My Bloody Valentine either. Incredibly they are going on tour this summer, who would have guessed.

AFM: What has your reception been like in the U.S.? I know that “War On Sound” got used in “Grey’s Anatomy“. Has the given you a broader audience? It’s a wonderful pop song!

OF: Yeah, since “Grey’s Anatomy”, we’ve noticed that more people has become fans of the band, not only in the US but in countries like New Zealand and the Philipines. It was on a soundtrack CD as well that sold like half a million copies. But I think that we’ve got a good following in North America, hopefully it’ll continue to grow so we can come over to tour a lot more. Doing the Moonbabies thing live is the greatest thing I know, and we’ve only been to the US touring in 2001.

LIYIB: When are you coming back to the States?

OF: We wouldn’t settle for anything less than that Moonbabies should do some US touring when the next album has been released. We’ve been on everybody to get us back to the US for so many years it’s silly, and still nobody’s found a way to make it happen. We would love tour in the States, cause we have a lot to give, hopefully 2009!

AFM: When should we expect the next record from Moonbabies?

We never put a deadline when we’re doing music, because it all comes down to the quality of the record, and when we know that we are extremely happy with the record it’s finished. I can take 3 days or 3 years – as long as it’s the best thing we’ve done so far. We’ve packing up the studio at the moment and will move to Berlin for half a year to write material for the album, we so need change, since we’ve been in the same studio for the last eight years. And also Berlin is great.

——–

Thanks to Ola and Marcy for taking the time for a chat. A Free Man heads for Florida next, to what appears to be a musical wasteland…

MP3: Moonbabies – “War On Sound”
MP3: Moonbabies – “Take Me To The Ballroom”

If you live in northern Europe, Moonbabies may be coming to a town near you in May:

05/02 – Debaser, Malmö (SWE) Support: Som DJ: Sally Shapiro
05/03 – Mau Club, Rostock (GER) Support: Computer
05/06 – Club Stereo, Nürnberg (GER)
05/07 – Das Haus, Ludwigshafen (GER) Support: Computer
05/08 – Steinbruch, Duisburg (GER) Support: Prisca Jones
05/09 – Projekt 7, Magdeburg (GER) Support: Computer
05/10 – Revolver Club @ Grüner Jäger, Hamburg (GER)
05/11 – Bassy, Berlin (GER) Support: Mikroboy

Moonbabies’ latest “Moonbabies At The Ballroom” and other records are available from and Amazon.

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