luni, 11 august 2008

Aerospace - The Bright Idea Called Soul (2001)

“Aerospace is: Torbjörn Thorsén, vocals and guitar; Kristian Rosengren, guitar; John Boqvist, piano and organ; Christer Nilsson, bass; Fredrik Balck, drums.
At the outset, Aerospace was all about playing live. All about playing live and all about going on tours. Little surprise, then, that the blondest {and friendliest, possibly} band in the business embarked on their first three-date jaunt to Malmö and back a mere month after forming in Toby’s living room, one of the last days of January 2000. The first ‘practice’ was more about deciding who should play which instrument than grinding the same song for hours on end and the resulting line-up was Toby on vocals and guitar, Kristian on electric guitar, John on organ and Wurlitzer piano and Christer on the bass {Fredrik joined a little later on drums}.
Sticking to their unorthodox ways {unorthodox in a world where bands are half-expected to spend five years in a tiny basement before even considering playing live, at least} the fab five lined up shows in their native Sweden, slowly gaining a reputation among fans of their brand of breezy-but-energetic, melodic guitar pop, and an ardent following wherever they went, celebrating their six month-anniversary by touring the west coast of America for half a month. Rising to the occasion, Aerospace played larger venues than ever before, taking in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle as part of the New Modern Tour, featuring premier American indie pop bands Majestic, My Favorite, The Fairways and others.
Recording always seemed an afterthought, but the sessions that eventually surfaced on »The Bright Idea Called Soul« were just as spectacular as the live shows, still the number one priority of Aerospace.
The fall meant more concerts and the band perfecting their craft through playing all over Stockholm and the rest of the country, with the first birthday crowned by the award for “Best Newcomer” at the prestigious Benno Awards early 2001.
The year that followed saw the band again supporting some of their musical heroes: The Aislers Set and The Lucksmiths on their respective tours of Sweden, and another summer of love was spent in San Francisco where Aerospace “blew away most of the other bands” {Peter Hahndorf, TweeNet} at the four-day Popfest 2001.
One year later, Aerospace can add an album and twenty-odd shows to their resumé {including first-time trips to Norway, England and Scotland and playing with Belle and Sebastian in Stockholm} and are getting ready to record the follow-up to »The Bright Idea Called Soul«, set to take their music to the next level.” (From Labrador.se).