DAVID & THE CITIZENS

I'm tired of using the same words -- over and over and over again -- when I write about Swedish music and songcraft. I'm sure you're tired of reading them. "Catchy." "Melodic." "Simple" yet "Sophisticated." On and on and on.

Of course, these labels don't apply to every song or artist under the Swedish sun; the country's ample enough to produce sticky-sweet bubblegum dance-pop, post-punk noise-rock, and everything in between. Still, there can be little question that the Swedes -- as a people -- have a way with a tune. The world was aware of this at least as long ago as ABBA and -- a decade later -- ROXETTE were making a lot of musical moralists and arbiters of high taste uncomfortable at their inability to resist such seemingly empty and ephemeral pop songs.

(But don't go getting too cool for school, Sweden. REDNEX's "Cotton Eye Joe" was an abomination worthy of a suitcase-nuke strike on Stockholm. And ACE OF BASE? Well... it was nice knowin' ya, Malmo.)

On second thought, let's throw Malmo a bone and steer the anti-Ace of Base jihad to... um... Helsingborg! (Hell, it's practically in Denmark anyway.) Why the shift? Because DAVID & THE CITIZENS are based in Malmo, and we can't have THEM getting anthraxed or dirty-bombed, now can we?

DAVID & THE CITIZENS are led by sometime-solo artist DAVID FRIDLUND and have been putting out consistently catchy, melodic, simple-yet-sophisticated indie-pop for a good seven years now. It wasn't until last year that they finally got an American release, and, as near as I can tell, they've yet to tour the States. They will, however, be playing SXSW in Austin on March 15 as part of Nordic Nights at Uncle Flirty's [see below for more details].

DAVID & THE CITIZENS on MySPACE.

DAVID & THE CITIZENS (and other Scandinavians) at Nordic Nights >>>

Thursday March 15 >
08PM: Marit Bergman (Sweden)
09PM: Funky Nashville (Denmark)
10PM: Mammut (Iceland)
11PM: moi Caprice (Denmark)
12AM: Rubik (Finland)
01AM: David and The Citizens (Sweden)

Friday March 16 >
08PM: IrinaBjorklund & Peter Fox (Finland)
09PM: Marit Larsen (Norway)
10PM: Vincent Van Go Go (Denmark)
11PM: Johnossi (Sweden)
12AM: Grand Island (Norway)
01AM: Reykjavik! (Iceland)

From the LP STOP THE TAPE! STOP THE TAPE!, 2006 >>>
[MP3] "48h"
[MP3] "Sad Song 2"

From the EP ARE YOU IN MY BLOOD?, 2006 >>>
[MP3] "Absent Mind"

From the EP BIG CHILL, 2004 >>>
[MP3] "Big Chill" [w/MATTIAS ALKBERG]

From the GRAYCOATED MORNING single, 2004 >>>
[MP3] "Christmas Eve"

From the LET ME PUT IT THIS WAY single, 2004 >>>
[MP3] "Let Me Put It This Way"

From the LP UNTIL THE SADNESS IS GONE, 2003 >>>
[MP3] "Let's Not Fall Apart"
[MP3] "New Direction"

From the THE END single, 2003 >>>
[MP3] "The End"

From the LP FOR ALL HAPPY ENDINGS, 2002 >>>
[MP3] "Pink Evening"