More Reason To Live In Sweden: The Legends

They've got beautiful scenery, beautiful women, a high standard of living; they even have ABBA for Christ's sake. Well, now they've got another one, The Legends, and let me tell you, these guys are good.

On the whole, I'm usually fairly skeptical of bands from foreign countries. Call it unreasonable, call it xenophobia, call it what you will, but sometimes the singing is just too wierd to take seriously, and the lyrics generally lack complexity (although this last part goes for plenty of American/British bands as well). Whatever the case may be, it takes a little more for a foreign band to earn my respect, I won't lie.

Now, enter the Legends. They've been around for only 3 years, forming in early 2003. They already have 2 albums out, and from what I've been able to hear from them (thanks to MySpace), they're nothing short of incredible. While their vocals are distinctly European, it in no way is distracting. The effect on the vocals which seems to be used often is again, not distracting as one would imagine it would be, but only accentuates the music being played. The music is sufficiently complex as to keep ones attention, but songwriter/guitarist Johan Angergard found the formula to keep the songs confoundedly simple and catchy all the same. I just regret that, being poor, I'll most likely never hear an entire album of theirs.

As a side note, Johan and his brother, Niklas, are collectively in four other bands, The Acid House Kings, Club 8, Red Sleeping Beauty, and Poprace, however, The Acid House Kings and Club 8 seem to be the only active ones besides the Legends. The Acid House Kings (Johan and Niklas) is much slower and sort of retro-pop oriented. They do site Burt Bacharach as an influence, as a matter of fact. Club 8, featuring only Johan and a mystery woman Karolina Komstedt is fragile, minamalist pop, with Karolina pulling most of the vocal duties. They pull the venture off excellently.

Anyway... take a listen for yourself.

The MySpaces:

The Legends
Club 8 I
Club 8 II
The Acid House Kings

The Websites:

Club 8
The Acid House Kings

The Label:

Labrador