The boy who couldn't stop dreaming

Club 8 is one of Sweden's most underrated bands. There, now I said it. The band was formed back in 1995 and yet the soothing vocals of Karolina Kromstedt and the introspective lyrics of Johan Angergård are still around to mesmerize.

Today I am considering a newer release, the album The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming from 2007. The really cute texts and vocals make for a really good blend of twee pop that goes beyond the shallowness that characterises the genre. In a recent interview on Lunarpark6 Johan listed English pop from the 1980's as his main source of inspiration:

"Our musical background is with the early 80’s UK pop bands like the Smiths, Field Mice, and the Orchids. That’s where we have our backgrounds. It’s what affected us the most. On the new album, we haven’t really thought about influences. I don’t think what we have listened to in the last year influenced the making of “The boy who couldn’t stop dreaming” at all. We have been focused on making the album as emotional as possible. Just trying to make every note, every little sound, as emotional as possible. Make every note fit the song as best as possible really".

Jesus Walk With Me: The title might seem misleading, suggesting that this is another Christian, God-praising song. Johan has stated in previous interviews that the song is not necessarily about his (or Karolina's) relationship with God. It should be read as a song about a person's love for another that is as strong as that of a devout Christian towards Jesus. Faith is juxtaposed with religious skepticism in the song: "Fool me into believing / I don't care if you are deceiving me". Either way, the vocals are gorgeous and the song is deservedly the main track of the album.

The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dream: Cute track about daydreaming. Karolina sings about her love for a boy who is quite absentminded.

Leave the North: Interesting track with a stylistic digression from the remainder of the album. Johan employs strong images to depict the desolate territories of Norrbottens Län (the upper-most county of Sweden). It is a song about leaving the land one knows for the exoticism of the South.

"I don't know why
suddenly we changed into
the very persons
we said we'd never be"