In our opinion, being between apartments in Stockholm during the dead of winter doesn’t sound like the best of circumstances in which to create something beautiful. However, that’s exactly what Swedish duo Marching Band did last year, and the result is its gorgeous second album, Pop Cycle, which was just released in the U.S. via U.L. Records. Jacob Lind and Eric Sunbring create complex yet easy-to-listen-to pop music and have had songs showcased in films and TV shows such as Zombieland, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, How I Met Your Mother and Scrubs. Check out this mix tape the duo made for MAGNET.
“It Will Never Slip” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/ItWillNeverSlip.mp3
The Beatles “Julia”
When Erik really got heavily into the Beatles, he liked McCartney’s songs the best. But he still thinks Lennon has better lyrics. In our opinion, there is so much to win being a songwriting duo. Video
The Shoes “Too Late”
We are both getting into this band right now. Some of the songs on our new album are somewhat power-pop sounding. “Curiosity” is another great song by the Shoes, but we didn’t find a video for that one. Video
Kings Of Leon “Notion”
There has to be a guilty-pleasure song on the list. The video to this song is really funny, though. It’s hard to take them seriously as they play into a wall. Great song still. Video
Nina Simone “Mr Bojangles”
Nina Simone is one of those artists (not that many left now) who you’ve read about a thousand times but never bothered to listen to. Erik discovered her version of “Mr. Bojangles” a couple of nights ago and will definitely go deeper into her catalog. Heartbreaking stuff. Video
The Byrds “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”
Erik just got a 12-string guitar, and Jacob just bought a great tambourine. So our next record will probably sound more like this. Video
Georges Bizet “Carmen, Habanera”
Jacob recently went to see a very postmodern version of the opera Carmen at Backa Theatre in Gothenburg. He couldn’t help himself screaming the song into the night from the top of the ferry he took back home, crossing the Göta Älv. It holds one of the strongest hooks in music history: when the choir and orchestra come in all at once at 1:10. So refreshing still. Video
Dear Reader “Great White Bear”
This is the band we went on tour with in South Africa when we were discovered by our label. Cherilyn, the singer, just moved to Germany, where they have a rather huge following. Hopefully, America will hear about them soon, as well. Video
Damien Jurado “Paper Wings”
This is an old favourite of both of ours. It’s the opener from the more rock-oriented of Jurado’s albums. It was produced by another old favourite, David Bazan (a.k.a. Pedro The Lion). Video
Genesis “Los Endos”
In this clip, we see Phil Collins play on rototoms, which we also used on our latest record. Jacob learned to play the drums listening to Phil and only now has he realized what those weird toms were, thanks to Jari Haapalainen, our producer. Video
The Lemonheads “Into Your Arms”
We’ve discussed playing this song as a cover for a long time, but it hasn’t happened yet. The great thing about it is that it’s not even an original Lemonheads song. It was written by an Australian band called the Hummingbirds. Video
