Moonbabies are possibly one of Sweden’s most exciting and adventurous bands. Since the early 2000’s the band has released a suite of high-quality albums and ep’s and toured extensively with sold-out shows in countries like Germany, Sweden and the USA. Moonbabies have been hyped by both critics and an ever growing following in the USA, not least in Canada, which may not come as a surprise since the band share a similair artistic and musical approach with Canadian acts like The Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene and Stars. Their anticipated third full-length album will be released by Startracks/V2 in February-March 2007.
Carina Johansson and Ola Frick enjoy themselves the most, either on stage or being in their studio surrounded by electronics, microphones and cables. They met a late night in Malmö, Sweden, around 10 years ago, and discovered a strikingly similair taste for great pop songs. After a long hot summer of performing their favorite covers, while on an inter-rail busking trip all over Europe, it seemed inevitable to start a band together. Five years later, the bands material started to take shape and find its exclusiveness. Band-members came and left, until Ola and Carina eventually decided to continue as a duo, and in 2001 their debut album ‘June and Novas’ was released, under the name Moonbabies.
Out on Seattle indie Duckweed, ‘June and Novas’, the band’s full-length debut, was a diverse effort of atmospheric lo-fi pop and fuzzed-out guitars, which without any budget became a minor breakthrough both among the underground music fans and the critics. The album was proceeded with a monthly long tour in northern USA and some major festival performances in Scandinavia.
Its follow-up, 2004’s ‘The Orange Billboard’ (licensed through Parasol/Hidden Agenda in the U.S.) was a decidedly more pop affair, filled to the weist with razor-sharp classic pop. Moonbabies created their own mini-universe, with a curious hybrid of old´n´new, and succeded to sneak in influences from Kate Bush and E.L.O. as well as hints of the Flaming Lips and My Bloody Valentine. The album met praise in the American and Scandinavian music press, and climbed a month after the release to the 1# position of the charts of Emusic -most downloaded single and album, February 2004 -and also ended up on the top of many writer’s and music lovers top ten lists later that year.
The band connected with the booking agency Mikrokultur (Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire and more), and backed up by a cast of invited musicians, Moonbabies embarked on a tour in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Sweden. By many sold-out shows and major festival appearances, the band had won the hearts of plenty with their euphoric performances. Through small-time independent labels and distribution the album sold a strong 11 000 copies in Europe, North America and Japan, due to national and college air-play and the word spread through various blogs and internet communities.
Back with a new-found confidence, the band released “War On Sound Mini Album” -an 8-song teaser for the upcoming album – on their own label. The song “War On Sound” -which also will be included on the forth-coming album, was picked out for a key-scene of the ABC TV-series Grey’s Anatomy. Alexandra Patsavas, the series Music Supervisor also selected the song to appear on the best-selling “Grey’s Anatomy Soundtrack Vol. 2” (Hollywood Records).
During the summer and autumn, the band has finished recording their 3rd full-length album entitled “Moonbabies at the Ballroom”, which will be released in Scandinavia on March 21, on the high-profile Swedish label Startracks/V2. The lead-off single from the album is “War on Sound”, now officially released for the first time in Europe, will be accompanied by a delicate retrospace promo video. The single is out in March 2007.
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