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Envelopes |
Camden music | grooves | Envelopes review | Proud Galleries | Swedish | 2001
PREVIEW ENVELOPES
Proud Galleries
FOUR Swedish guys meet one French girl – that might sound like the opening line of a joke heavily laden with national stereotypes, but it’s actually the recipe for Envelopes, an eccentric collection of individuals who have been producing bright indie pop on the move since 2001.
The band – Audrey, Fredrik, Martin, Filip and Henrik – first met seven years ago at the Swedish seaside, and began a holiday recording process that would go on for more than three years.
When they finally landed in England in March 2005, their music got an airing on radio and was described as twisted, wicked, and wonky. Their song Glue was described as sounding like a trip on a twisted bicycle. The band say they are happiest when enveloped in creative chaos.
One of the most remarkable things about Envelopes is that they live so far apart. One lives in Paris, one in Malmö, and the others in Stockholm, so planes, trains, and automobiles are as essential to this band as musical instruments.
Obviously, this long-distance set-up has had a staggered effect on their output, but it hasn’t stopped them from producing a number of critically adored records.
Their latest album, Here Comes The Wind, was released in February to almost universal acclaim, and bears the unmistakable influences of The Pixies, Talking Heads and the B52s.
Vocal duties are shared by Henrik and Audrey throughout the album, an approach that produces unexpected and soulful results.
And, lyrically, they’re fun and can be wonderfully strange: the line “When I streak discretely, you’ll know what I mean,” isn’t just the result of speaking English as a second language. This idiosyncratic approach to words leads to song titles such as Smoke In The Desert, Eating The Sand, Hiding In The Grass, and at times it feels like the band is just improvising on the spot.
But however they’re doing it, let’s hope they don’t stop.
CATHAL SHEERIN
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