DOWNLOAD: Those Dancing Days - "F@ckarias" (from Daydreams & Nightmares)

Stockholm, Sweden’s Those Dancing Days made their East Coast debut just about two years ago with shows at Mercury Lounge and Union Hall. With the band’s second album, Daydreams and Nightmares (Witichita) released yesterday, the band is back in the States and are playing some shows around their appearance(s) at SXSW.

The eleven tracks on Daydreams and Nightmares show that the band’s sound has matured over these last few years. After listening to the band’s 2008 full-length debut In Our Space Hero Suits, I compared their sound to 60’s girl-group ‘revival’ band The Pipettes. This time out, the band has a jagged edge and captures a fuller alt-rock sound, all without giving up any of their pop-hooks. “We didn’t go into the studio and say: ‘Let's change our sound.’ It happened naturally, almost unconsciously. I think it is because we have gone through so much together the last few years. We have grown up, simple as that,” says drummer Cissi Efraimsson.

Similar to the previous disc, lyrical themes are predominently about relationships starting, ending or going aray, This time out though the lyrics are wrapped around catchy pop hooks and soaring choruses and delivered with a sense of urgency and edgyness. With the move away from the twee cuteness of the first disc, there is enough slashing guitar and tribal drumming on this disc to keep the band out of the pure pop scene. Producer Patrik Berger gives the band a high-gloss but doesn’t overdo it so Those Dancing Days can now be compared to bands like The Graces (Charlotte Caffey, Meredith Brooks) or perhaps The Breeders. Those Dancing Days haven’t completely lost their twee roots though as the disc ends with “One Day Forever” where Linnea Jönsson trades-off vocals with The Macabees’ Orlando Weeks and the end-product sounds something like The Brunettes.

Tracks on the disc range from the perfect power-pop of “Can’t Find Entrance” to the pounding slash n’ burn punk of “Fuckarias” to the new wave-ish “Dream About Me”.





The band is playing a small set of US shows this month when they are over for SXSW which include a stop at Mercury Lounge on March 22nd. The Mercury Lounge show is an early show (6:30PM doors) and Bloc Party's Gordon Moakes' latest project Young Legionnaire opens the show. Tickets are $10.

Links:
Those Dancing Days