ABOUT THIS ITEM

There’s a thesis waiting to be written about Sweden being the heartbeat of European pop culture, a quicker way though to take the pulse of modern music would be to get acquainted with Pixie Carnation – new proof from Sweden’s deep South that the Nordic beat goes on.

Formed in Sweden’s third city Malmö by childhood friends Tobias Hellkvist and Ola Pålsson, Pixie Carnation’s debut album is the culmination of two years of recruitment, touring, writing and recording. After an EP in 2009, the band took to the studio where Hellkvist and Pålsson recorded and produced the album on their own. Later, they joined forces with Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm from Soundtrack Of Our Lives to mix "The New World Record", a collection of songs that affirms the band’s ascendancy and aspiration towards the hallowed ground of great pop.

Talk to the band and they’ll tell you it’s all about open tunings, string arrangements and classic rock influences. Listen to the record and you’ll hear the spirit, urgency and bold-hearted sensibility of a group who manage to sound accomplished and fresh at the same time. Vivid and skilled, Pixie Carnation sound like altogether worthy heirs to one of the great mantles of modern music, their album a bright and blinding slice of Arctic light from a band whose day has undeniably dawned.