When I was a teenager I would frequently fall in love with a song and after racing down to the local CD store after school to purchase whatever wonderful tidbit of 90’s chart-topping glory it was, would then proceed to play it over and over again until the words were seared into my brain and my family’s hair lay on the loungeroom carpet in frantically torn out clumps.
You would think that in my advanced years (I’m 25 – don’t laugh, I’m ripe for a quarter-life crisis) I would have moved beyond this level of obsession, but sadly I’ve recently discovered that this is not the case.
Earlier this week I spent three days down at the beach, and as I drove the winding roads by the ocean in the warm spring sunshine, the indie pop stylings of Swedish outfit Hello Saferide was pretty much my only soundtrack. And since I only have a handful of their songs so far (that will change in a couple of weeks or so when a highly anticipated package arrives at my house from the good ol’ USA – thank you, internet) I was forced to play them over and over again, with the four featured in this post getting a good old fashioned flogging.
Hello Saferide is fronted by journalist Annika Norlin, who is also responsible for the quirky lyrics, sweet yet sometimes biting vocals and acoustic guitar. Other band members are Andreas Söderlund, Maia Hirasawa, Fredrik Hultgren and Jens Lagergren. Together they create infectious indie pop that I just can’t get enough of.
From their 2005 LP Introducing Hello Saferide, ‘Get Sick Soon’ is a quirky song filled with love and devotion.
Sleep on my shoulder! I won’t wake you even if
My back turns crooked and I have to walk with a limp for a week
You can hold the remote, I won’t try to steal it
And the best cushion is yours and you can have your feet on me,
Even though I’m scared of feet and even though I had a hard day at work
From the same album comes ‘San Francisco’, a wonderful tongue in cheek track. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the lyrics of Hello Saferide are merely ‘cute’ – every now and then a line will appear with a sting in its tail.
Time to take your sweetheart by the hand and lead him to the Promised Land
The only place in North America not destroyed by the government
San Francisco! You’re going
San Francisco! We’re going
Don’t you know you’ll never ever want to turn back
From the EP Would You Let Me Play This EP Ten Times A Day? comes ‘2006’, a seemingly upbeat track about new year’s resolutions, though there is a definite undercurrent of longing and sadness.
This years resolutions:
I will exercise more
Call my grandma
Tell my family that I love them
Learn more about the world wars, and forget
I will learn a new word each day
Today’s word is dejected
and on the top of the list there’s you
I’m going to be with you
I haven’t told you yet but I’m going to be with you
And from the upcoming release More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide (out at the end of the month) comes the wonderful ‘Anna’. I’ve actually posted this track before, but I didn’t write about it in the way that I should have, so I’m going to redeem myself a little bit here.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a track before that’s so catchy, yet so moving at the same time. Anna is the daughter that the protagonist in the song always hoped to have.
You know we could have had a daughter
And we could have named her Anna
And she would have been a sweetheart
But with punk rock manners
Could have supported us when we retire
Bought us a cottage near the countryside
She goes on to describe all the things that Anna would be and all the things that she would do with her life, but the song takes a sudden turn with the line
And she’d never have to know what it’s like when your heart breaks
and when an electric guitar crashes in the mood of the song shifts noticeably, finishing with the lines
Well I’m real sorry Anna, you never got to be
Because your daddy moved on and left me
Hope, possibility, loss and longing delivered in under three minutes, all wrapped up in an infectious bundle of twee indie pop. It’s all wonderful and it’s all highly, HIGHLY, recommended.
Get Sick Soon – Hello Saferide
6 comments
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September 27, 2008 at 11:28 am
A Free Man
The Swedes are just amazing right now with the twee indie stuff. Have you heard Moonbabies? They remind me a bit of this band. Wonderful stuff, thanks.
September 27, 2008 at 8:00 pm
itallstarted
I’ve heard of them, but haven’t really checked out their gear. I shall be doing so now though, thanks for the recommendation!
October 11, 2008 at 7:45 am
AMD
Has the package arrived?
I love Hello Saferide, and have featured HS music on my blog frequently. You must have found The Quiz; it’s mind-bogglingly good.
I’m not so keen on the new album yet, and I can’t understand why it excludes the gloriously Motown-ish “I Was Just Made For These Times”, which was issued as a single awhile back. It’s somewhere on my blog as well.
If you like HS, try to find Lenka (if you haven’t already).
October 11, 2008 at 8:27 am
itallstarted
It has actually, last week! Have only had time to skim it so I haven’t had the chance to review it properly yet. Thanks for the Lenka tip too!
November 21, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Beth
I love all these songs! You’re right about “Anna”, it’s so beautiful and is just captures so much sadness about wonderful things that you’ve imagined, that you suddenly realise will never happen now. Also with AMD on “I Was Definitely Made For These Times” if only
Also “Highschool Stalker” – I must have listened to it a thousand times and still love it.
Have you heard of a band called The Hussy’s?(http://www.myspace.com/thehussys) They’re from Glasgow and have really good upbeat tunes and funny lyrics that always remind me of HS.
November 22, 2008 at 10:11 am
itallstarted
Thanks for stopping by Beth! I reckon ‘Anna’ will feature prominently on quite a few ‘best of’ lists this year. I haven’t heard of The Hussys, by I’m definitely going to check them out now. Thanks for the tip!