Audio, 2nd June

After seeing Bruce Springsteen for the first time, producer Jon Landau is famously meant to have said: “I’ve just seen the future of rock ‘n’ roll…” I’m not Jon Landau and I can’t claim to have seen the future of indie-pop, but after watching the devilishly brilliant Those Dancing Days perform I can at least wish that the future of pop music lies partly in these girls’ hands. Pop music deserves that much. Besides, who could possibly bet against five impossibly charming, gloriously-coiffured Swedish munchkins taking over the world? I wouldn’t dare.

So, while a dank night and a half-full Audio is an oddly incongruous background for such a perkily upbeat group, from the outset the band’s swirling Northern Soul sound and fairground pop lustre cut through any lingering Monday night blues. And they can play. Cissi Efraimsson is a thunderous drummer. Lisa Pyk Wirström has to be the cheeriest (and bounciest) keyboard player you’ll ever see, and the only one that plays wearing her Dad’s fedora. Rebecka Rolfart (bedecked in a red dress and bandana combination) and bassist Mimmi Evrell are content to happily apply a smoothly-grooved backdrop to the gorgeously soulful vocals of Linnea Jönsson, who quite apart from having the best hair in music might well be a pop icon in the making.

Of course the band’s debut EP gets a run-out, but there are new songs to behold. Previous single ‘Hitten’ – a star-skimming thrust of pop joy – is trumped by upcoming single ‘Run Run Run’, which pushes the carnival flurry keyboards and fizzy chorus recipe even further. Another of the new songs is a more unexpected tempo-changing affair that suggests an expanding musical range.

What I’m trying to say is this: it’s great to see a young girl group who have their own look and sound and can write and play shimmering pop songs, while enjoying every moment. Because that’s what youth and pop music are supposed to be about. Isn’t it? 

Words by Joe Owen
Photograph by Sarah Hadland