This translation is courtesy of Yann Darson!
The Cardigans
With Life, their second delicately pop album, The Cardigans, four boys and a young lady, let the world know that the Swedish could write little hits too. With First Band on the Moon, it's confirmed that this was no mirage: singing clear as pure water, crystal-like guitars and sugary arrangements are this simple and quite quintet's assets; succes did not confuse them. From Malmö, the countdown can be started...
Peter: We moved to Malmö about two years ago. We're from Jonköping.
Magnus: This was no an easy choice. In the beginning, we all moved in the same flat, for nearly fifteen months. We didn't have too much money, this was a little hazardous. Furthermore, in Jönköping, people didn't appreciate this, as they were proud that we started having success in Sweden. (Smiles.)
But why did you choose Malmö and not Stockholm?
Peter:Very simply, because we wanted to be in the same town as our gavourite studio, Tambourine Studio, which is essential to us. Of course, Stockholm seemed to be the most reasonable choice as labels and press are here. But we didn't want to have our wings burst.
Magnus: If we had, we couldn't have been the first band on the moon!
You were talking about Tambourine Studios. Sound seems to be a primordial element in the band's identity....
Peter: Of course! That's why First Band on the moon has been once more recorded there with Tore as producer...
Magnus:Tore has developed his sound approach since we met. Most of the bands want to changer their producer because they want to try something else, they want to get a different mood for an album. And for FBOTM, we felt we didn't need that change for the time being...
Peter:That's only after they've done an album that a band and a producer really know each other. So I think it's a bit silly to change when there is a kind of trust and respect. Most of the producers have a sound they use with every artist. That's not hte case with Tore. In fact, he has grown up with us, he's the sixth Cardigan...
Magnus:In a way, he's our own George Martin...(Smiles)
I suppose you didn't except such a success for Life....
Peter:That's the least you can say. Without being falsely modest, it really surprised us and it still does today. We can't get used to it. Well, Life is a good album but compared to Emmerdale, the first one, and with a little hindsight, there are thing that we should have changed. In fact, now that FBOTM is released, I almost see it as a transition album today.
In its French or English version, Life featured some tracks from Emmerdale...
Peter:That was our choice. This record was released in 1994 but it almost didn't go over Swedish borders. So we wanted to show songs we were proud of. And we noticed that with these songs Life was a stronger album. It's true that it's a bit confusing for the public. In the USA they had another version yet, with even more songs from Emmerdale. But that was just a way to introduce ourselves, we saw that record as a visiting card, a little summary of the Cardigans' life until now.
SYMPHONIC POP
Anyway, FBOTM seems more coherent, more complete..
Peter:Oh, yes, definetly, But we didn't get into the studio with the idea of recording a more coherent album, more undimenstional. That's why we've decided to link tracks between them. but that was not scheduled at the beginning. On the tapes, we had some tracks excerpts, some noises, some instruements tries. Bengt had the idea. We talked about this possibility when we did Emmerdale, but we wanted it to come naturally, to choose this because of the recording's mood.
Magnus:At last we succeeded into making our symphonic pop album (smiles)
Then why did you put Sick and Tired on the French version?
Peter Realy? We didn't know about this. that's strange, this song is three years old now. We wanted it that was on Life, but here. I sincerely hope that the fact that it's feature on the album with be pointed out by a sticker...And even...Anwyays, the track should come only thirty seconds after the end of the album, otherwise the record will lost some of its strength
Do you leave many tracks that don't seem to fit with the Cardigans identity?
Peter:No, because the group concept is very clear, we don't have to think much about it. (Smiles) In fact, for the first two albums, we just had enough songs, we didn't even think about writing B-sides for singles..This time, we've decided to write a bit more to be free to choose. So we kept the eleven tracks which seemed to fit together the best. But don't think we had the choose between thirty tracks, no.. We just had thirteen or fourteen...(Smiles)
Lovefool, the first single, is also used as a film soundtrack..
Peter:Yes the director got in touch with our manager..Baz Luhrmann is Australian, he directed Strictly Boredom. He's a fan, it seems, but we never met him. When we had the proposal, we were into the recording and as some songs seemed to fit witha film, we willingly accepted.
But would you be interested in writing a real sountrack?
Peter:Why not?....But we never had the time to think about it really. For two years, everything went so fast for the band that first we try to do right what we're made for. Then, if we have a chance to rest a while, we'll consider every possibility..
For the first time, Nina got into lyrics-writing...
Nina:(She raised her head) First because I was more confident. And also because I wasn't completely satisfied with the way I sang on the previous album, and because it seemed important to me to know what the lyrics really meant to get a better result...
Magnus, when you're writing, you always keep in mind the fact that Nina is going to sing your words, don't you?
Magnus:I have to. But before the Cardigans, we had another band with Peter, where there was a girl singing, too. That's something I'm getting used to. (Smiles) Of course, I'd like to sing my own lyrics, maybe I will if i'm doing a little solo project. But that's another story. i dont' have the right to sing in this band. And it seems that's it's a rather good decision.
Lyrics are often about relationships....
Magnus:That's one of the things we talked about after Life. We wanted to get back to the Emmerdale concept, to write about our lives and not to be satisfied with fictions. These are surely the darkest lyrics we've ever wrote, Fortunately, the songs' titles are so dramatic they're almost funny.
There's nothing dramatic about the album's title...
Peter:No, there's no particular meaning either! It's just a cool title.. In fact, I only thought about it later but I like its double meaning. First Band on the Moon has a retro feel, end of sixties, but also something futuristic about it. And I think this is an interesting contrast....
Ordinary People
In the English press, your music has often been described as easy listening....
Magnus:It was ever worse in Germany! They kept comparing us to esat listening artists we didn't care about. In fact, When we recorded Life, we wanted to do a pop, cool album, with a very 60s feeling. But we didn't know anything about easy listening and it became fashionable a few months later. We had our first Burt Bacharach album about six months ago.
Peter:We just wanted to release this very 60s like album, but that's all. Sincerely, none of us knew what easy listening was. However, I can understand these comparisons because life arrangements can be considered as close to this style. But it wasn't planned that way.
When you've sold 1,500,000 copies of an album worldwide, do you go in the studio with a mind as free as usual?
Peter:Yes anyway that was the case for us. You know, the label never intefered in our studio work, we've always been free to do what we wanted. In fact, we felt more pressure when we recorded Life because we wanted to move away from Emmerdale. But we didn't expect anything from the Cardigans but an artistic satisfaction.
WHen you started the band, you didn't have any particular goal..
Peter:Yes we had. When we released Emmerdale, we wanted to sell about 5000 copies....
Magnus:In fact, our friend from Eggstone had sold 8000 copies of their first album, In San Diego, which is to me the best record ever recorded by a Swedish band. To us, this figure was like an apothesosis...(Smiles) Now in Sweden most of the indie bands sell about 5000 copies, and that's rather a good thing...I don't think this is the case in other countries, except Great Britain of course.
Peter:Anyways we never thought we could get out of Sweden
Is it easy to be an independent band in Sweden?
Peter:Yes I think it is today. Which wasn't the case yet when we started or even when we made Emmerdale.
Magnus:Things have changed quite a bit in two years, it's much easier to get airplay on national radio stations. Everybody has noticed that this music had a certain potential, speaking about sales. But Life didn't sell that much in Sweden. we're not superstars, nobody chases us to ask for autographs. But it's true that our success in foreign countries made things move a little bit for the band and that First Band on the Moon is more expected...
But you success didn't made too many people jealous in Sweden..
Peter:No, not really. This is not a competition. Anyways, we're too ordinary to feel it (Smiles) Here, bands are all more or less friends with one another when we see them, they just complain about their record company who can't get them out of the country...Maybe they wait until we turn our back and then they curse us. No that's impossible. Here, there is a loyalty, bands are a kind of... union. I don't really care about this guy or that guy's music as long as they're cool people there's no problem.
Magnus:Some bands have a stange feeling, because they're more popular that we are here. Sincerely, in this country, nobody expected the Cardigans to become kind of leaders of the Swedish scene.....