Club 8

The People's Record (Labrador)

By Eleanor Whitney
Published: May 21st, 2010 | 7:00am

Fans of Club 8’s smooth, dreamlike pop will instantly know their latest effort, The People’s Record, represents a new direction for the venerable Swedish indie duo. The gently disaffected lyrics, purring, breathy vocals courtesy of Karolina Komstedt, and jangly guitars and lush instrumentation provided by Johan Angergård are still there, but The People’s Record takes inspiration from a decidedly wider range of sources.

At first listen it sounds a bit like a mash-up between Swedish electropop and Manu Chao-style “ethnic world music.” Conga drums keep up a frenetic, Latin-inspired beat throughout most of the songs and are especially prominent on “My Pessimistic Heart.” Unfortunately, while they add pep, they also have the effect of making most of the songs sound similar. Sweetly arpeggiated guitar lines like those on “Isn’t That Great?” seem lifted from Afropop. Layered voices provide backing vocals that add a feeling of large, proletarian choruses on tracks, including the rousing opener, “Western Hospitality.” The record does include a nod to the electronic past on closing track “The People Speak,” neatly lifting a rift from Kraftwerk’s “Neon Lights.”

Old and new listeners will find plenty to appreciate and The People’s Record deserves a prominent place in any Scandinavian pop-lover’s collection. Komstedt’s vocals drive the band with their appealing, pop-perfect lilt whether she is cooing, “Be mad / Get ill / Be still and let me feel what you feel,” or sweetly intoning, “We are all going to die.” The music is overall upbeat and it’s a pleasant surprise to hear a Swedish favorite boldly explore new sonic directions.

Club 8 official Web site

Club 8 MySpace page

Labrador Records