The sound of Sweden at the start of the 21st century is as fresh as it is varied, and you may have been listening to Swedish indie without knowing it. Bands like The Knife, Peter, Bjorn and John, and The Radio Dept have won widespread critical praise and considerable airtime abroad, while José González’s haunting “Heartbeats” – originally performed by The Knife – launched a quarter of a million multicolored balls down a San Francisco hillside in an acclaimed commercial for Sony TVs.

Swedish indie has now built up a loyal following, and there are club nights devoted exclusively to it from Berlin to Tokyo. But just what is Swedish indie? Why is it so big today? And what is it about this music that makes people in far-off lands set up clubs, websites and festivals in its honor?

Declaration of independence
Andres Lokko is a Swedish music journalist who lives in London. He says that while the word “indie” is often associated in other countries with guitar-based music, in Sweden it has a broader meaning. “The Swedish definition of indie has much more in common with the original term: that it is independent music,” he says. “What would be labeled electronica or some other genre in the UK or the States is defined as indie in Sweden, whereas the music that is actually guitar-based – the post-Oasis pop songs – is considered to be pretty much mainstream.”


Music by the Swedish band The Radio Dept is included in the soundtrack for the movie "Marie Antoinette" by Sofia Coppola. The band also won best pop/rock act at the Swedish independent awards Manifest.

Two of the hottest Swedish indie acts today highlight the broadness of the term. Hello Saferide play a kind of acoustic pop with lyrics characterized by intimacy and humor whereas The Knife, on the other hand, create an experimental but accessible fusion of electropop vocals with underground techno.

Sweet Swede music
Swedish indie was recently described in the UK’s daily newspaper The Guardian as “impossibly lovely,” and, indeed, the music is characterized by sweet melodies that are often melancholic but always catchy. “You can tell that music is Swedish just from the melody,” says Lokko. “Because English is the language of pop music, there is always more emphasis in Sweden on melodies. And Sweden is cold, so maybe we need sweeter melodies.

Mattias Lövkvist is the boss of Stockholm-based Hybris Records, which is home to artists like Sibiria and Hell on Wheels. He says that the explosion of Swedish music was triggered by the internet becoming the default medium for finding new music sometime around 2000. “There have always been good bands in Sweden, but now there are means to reach out to other countries,” he says. “The indie scene is very local, and it’s really hard for indie bands to get abroad. But the whole internet thing has made the indie scene in Sweden explode.”

José González and Hello Saferide are two of the brightest shining indie stars in Sweden

Tools of the trade
Lövkvist says that the availability and usability of music production software has also helped Swedish bands. “Almost all our artists make their music at home,” he says. “In Sweden pretty much everyone has a computer now, and almost everyone who makes music has learned to do proper production on their computer.”

Both music software and the internet have also combined to give female musicians better access to what has traditionally been a male-dominated industry. “In this industry it has always been important who you know, but the internet has enabled these girls to reach out and find their fans,” Lövkvist says. “There has been a demand for these kinds of artists for a long time, but the talent scouts have always been men in their forties who have just not seen the girls and their quality.” So now the sisters are doing it for themselves.

Big jumpers, big smiles
In Madrid, five fans of Swedish music – two of whom studied at university in Umeå – have set up a cultural association with the aim of spreading the sound of Sweden to their fellow Spaniards.


Hell on Wheels, who formed in 1994, are still one of the most respected Swedish indie acts.

Mónica Gutiérrez Herrero is one of the members of Fikasound, a group that organizes gigs and festivals around Spain featuring Swedish bands. Asked what the attraction of Swedish music is, Gutierrez Herrero says: “We feel what they are singing; we love all the things that are insinuated. You feel the cold sensation, the big jumpers, the polar lights, the dark winter and the joy in the summer time, with the sun in your face and a big, big smile, thinking about having a bath in a lake. All those things that you can feel with Swedish music make it special, and we like those kind of moments.”

Things said about Swedish indie
“The indie scene in Sweden is incredibly vibrant and diverse. Whereas British indie is still gripped by the cold, dead hands of post-hardcore, emo and dreadful ‘challenging’ experimental music, Swedish indie bands are actually out there writing pop songs about their lives and experiences.”
– British musician Jyoti Mishra, who as White Town had a 1997 smash hit with “Your Woman”, quoted on www.bzangygroink.co.uk

“Perhaps there’s a higher level of musical integrity in Sweden. It seems that bands are less likely to follow the prevailing ‘scene’ than in the UK or USA. Having a government that makes some effort to be supportive of musicians must help too.”
– Huw Rees, boss of Stereo Test Kit Records, quoted on noisedfisk.com

“Indiepop is when you make music from your heart without the big labels and their commercial interests breathing down your neck, just for the love of good songs.”
– Östersund-based Swedish indie band The Hartmans, quoted on www.indiepop.it

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David Wiles is the editor of Sweden Today magazine. Before researching this article, his knowledge of Swedish music extended to Abba and The Hives. But now José González's album “Veneer” and The Knife's “Silent Shout” have elbowed their way on to his MP3 player.

The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.

Classification: A182EN

© Photo 1: Elin Berge