Einstein Music Journal

The Radio Dept.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Radioavdelningen is one of Sweden's best known and well-loved Indie/shoegaze/experimental/electronic collaborative projects. Johan Duncanson (vocals, guitar), Martin Larsson (guitar), Lisa Carlberg ("love of Martin", and bass/vocals), and Per Blomgren (drums) make sweet, glistening melodies scorned with romantic maladies (ha). Now on one of Sweden's most respected labels and with a few songs on Sophia Copolla's Marie Antoinette soundtrack, the band have found favour with many fans of the eternally underrated My Bloody Valentine/Jesus and Mary Chain-esque haze.

Their gauzy, hazy, dreamlike songs perfectly suit the ponderous climes of the film, as Kirstin Dunst (sigh) and Jason Schwartzman (double sigh) fall about eachother and try to get along. Or something. The songs are more structured, to that effect, but their hopeless/hopeful songs seem shaded in mist and covered in mourning dew.

It's doubtless you'll want to listen to The Radio Dept. every day all the time, unless you're a very sleepy person who doesn't do much... their densely layered songs take some effort to listen to, but the melodies are strong and simple and beautiful. Always hidden under a heightened topography of soft, distorted fuzz and gentle, breathy vocals, whispered and sighed out from underneath drum echoes and the like. Overall they're an amazing, beautiful band, far more rant-worthy than this or any post can attempt to do them justice.

posted by Sarah Gooding @ 9:53 am