The Bridal Shop were excellent on Friday. Some pictures from the gig are here. Jimi and Gustaf from On Our Honeymoon were playing records before and after, which was fitting as Gustaf grew up in the same town as most of the members of Bridal Shop, although they now live in Stockholm. I'd been listening to The Go-Betweens quite a bit this week, so I was delighted to dance to "Love Goes On!" and "Right Here".But the main subject of this post is to tell you about another record I got this week - the simply amazing ep from Swedish Strawberry Fair! It's Jenny Franzén's first proper release, five years on from her two cdrs Strawberry Fair and Empty Wallets and Greedy Companies. The sound has developed considerably since she first appeared and was involuntarily rounded up with other quite lo-fi groups to create the tweepop revival of 2003. She actually turned down an offer to play at the Mitt Nästa Liv festival, together with The Tidy Ups, Bearsuit, A Boy Named Thor, Javelins, Rocky Dennis (Jens Lekman), Dorotea etc.
New songs turned up on Myspace over a year ago - the title-track of the new ep as well as a cover of The Toys' "Attack!". Both showcased the influence of 60s pop and girlgroups, especially in her vocal style which is closer to The Shangri-Las than Heavenly. Last year she also appeared at the soon legendary Rip It Up festival backed by a band made up of the cream of Stockholm's pop scene. Now finally, "I Can't Do Anything" is released on cd together with three new songs, available from Johan Jacobsson's old label Alltid Hela Tiden (which means 'always all the time'). Every song, except for maybe "Kristoffer", is an instant hit combining lyrics that aim straight for the heart and vocals that could have made Phil Spector shed a tear with a clean and modern indiepop sound. Here's my favourite.
CLOUD 42 Strawberry Fair - Give Up
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