SJÖBLOM are a Swedish indie project, formed by Johan SE in 2016 in Stockholm. Also member of Swedish post-punk band The Exploding Boy, and played earlier in the indie pop band Prune and the indie rock band Fake Moss. As I know Johan from The Exploding Boy and loved it I decided to give his new album a shot!
Number Ten is the first song (and there are 10 songs on the album). This first one reminds me a bit of The Cure with the bass playing upfront. The electronics sound really anno 2021. Sadly enough there are no vocals on it. Next is a single and was launched with a video: Telephone. Somehow I recognize a bit the style of his previous band (never a bad thing), just the vocals sound a bit different (closer to Apoptygma Berzerk). I like the bright and happy touch halfway the song that almost sounds like a positive vibe outburst. Tape mixes a sad tone like we are used from the darker side of The Cure with a gesture of their more happy side, but all in some kind of slow motion and a chorus that goes a bit faster. It’s a slow grower, but the more you listen to it the more you love it! A Brand New Life sounds a bit like how it feels like after his previous band: more sunlight and more positive feelings. A Game is a soft electronic song questioning a lot of things. Home is an acoustic track that builds up slowly and changes into a more electronic one towards the end. The Storm sounds like a real rocker with cool drums and some echo effects on the vocals. The piano plays a good role too! I like it! Demons is a duet performed together with Anna Sjödén. It’s a slow track with a dark edge. I think I hear an old organ or maybe it’s just some special effect that comes by the bias of a special computer program. A Thousand Words almost takes us back to the old school The Exploding Boy sound. Somehow I feel like it’s hard for me to move on and listen with a clean vision to this music. The song is really good and is the kind of song I could listen to all day long. Sad Song 3 is a sad ending for this album and I’m wandering how the other 2 sound like. It’s a more introspective song, not giving us hope on a bright and shining future.
It’s not bad, but I prefer The Exploding Boy. Maybe I need to let it grow on me a bit more and give it more time! I’m also happy they could also play on stage (together with Alphaville).
