I’m From Barcelona plans its escape on Who Killed Harry Houdini?

By Laura Leebove
Published: October 14th, 2008 | 12:40pm

Sweden’s I’m From Barcelona has no problem taking a break from reality. For the 28 members of IFB, being in the band is an escape from day jobs as teachers, biologists, journalists, designers, and architects; for the listeners, the music serves as a distraction from real life and a journey into a world of exaggerated, colorful fantasies.

So it’s really no surprise that the band’s sophomore album is named for a man who mastered the art of (literal) escapism, Harry Houdini. While writing the record, Who Killed Harry Houdini? (Mute), out October 14, songwriter and frontman Emanuel Lundgren says he was influenced by the famed magician’s biography. Lundgren, who hates flying on airplanes, says he stumbled upon The Secret Life of Harry Houdini by chance and read it to “escape from that situation.”

“It’s always very interesting when you have an image of a person, and then you read and learn a lot of new sides that you didn’t know about,” he says. “Houdini wasn’t just a magician. He was also one of the first pilots in the world, and a spy, and a lot of things. It’s a good way to get perspective of your own life, to read about people who really had crazy lives. Your own problems, they don’t seem so big.”

Lundgren describes the new record as being like a collection of short movies. “It’s based a lot on different persons and their lives,” he says. “I’ve been influenced a lot by reading many, many biographies. I found it more interesting when I was working on the album to read instead of listen to music, ’cause it’s easy to get too influenced by what you’re listening to, so you’re almost starting to copy stuff. I’d rather copy a book into music than get too influenced by someone else’s music.”

While IFB’s debut, Let Me Introduce My Friends (Mute), was about the happiest damn record of 2007, the new release takes a slightly darker approach. Instead of consistently peppy and upbeat harmonies, Houdini experiments with more melancholic minor keys, which Lundgren says complements the cheery side of his writing. “As a songwriter, the goal is always to be as honest as possible and try to reflect what you hear in your head and what you feel inside,” Lundgren says. “I never knew that this band would grow in the way it has been doing. So, for me, it was also important to include more sides of what I’d be doing before I’m From Barcelona and more parts of my musical universe in that way.”

The abundance of instruments IFB uses is still the same though, as both records feature the band members playing everything but the kitchen sink: guitar, tambourine, shakers, accordion, synthesizers, glockenspiel, horns, a saxophone, and more. A haunting chorus with tambourines begin the minor-keyed “Andy,” a song Lundgren wrote about a former contestant on Swedish Idol. From there it jumps up to the catchy first single “Paper Planes” (not to be confused with the M.I.A. track), then down to “Music Killed Me,” a song driven by piano, unhurried, finger-picked guitar, and cymbal crashes. Houdini comes full circle when the gospel-influenced, seven-minute-long “Rufus” reprises the glockenspiel line from the first track.

For live shows — which are known for rainbow-colored balloons, funky costumes, and Lundgren surfing the crowd on a pool raft — the new sound means fans will have a chance to take a breather and reload. “Now we can mix the [up-tempo] stuff with maybe some melancholy and put some different moods in the same show,” Lundgren says. “Before, the show has been like an explosion for one hour, and that can be quite exhausting for a lot of people. Of course the show isn’t only about having a party — it’s also about listening and losing yourself in the music.”

—
I’m From Barcelona’s MySpace