Along with Stockholm resident Ida Maria, Victoria Bergsman’s Taken by Trees project, Tape and of course the two bands on offer tonight - Lykke Li and El Perro Del Mar - Sweden seems at the moment to be reaping another fine crop of bands.
This pair blaze the trail left by Peter, Bjorn & John and the Concretes, drawing probably the neatest line imaginable on the Swedish indie-rock family tree - one produced by Bjorn Yttling and the other releasing records on the Concretes label.
Gothenburg’s El Perro Del Mar is in actual fact one person, Sarah Assbring, starting her set tonight solo but being joined gradually by members of Lykke Li’s band on keys and bass, a favour she would later repay by singing backing vocals.
The sweet voice, gentle melodies and unhurried pace of her songs bring to mind Isobel Campbell before she started corrupting rockers, crossed with someone like Broadcast. Certainly that was the case after moving from guitar to keys and gaining the two extra members. At a couple of points they even managed to build some joyous moments of noise set against her voice but in an understated kind of way rather than a Twilight Sad way.
The stage layout should have given me clue for what to expect from Lykke Li.
That lonely little drum at the front.
I expected a performance more like the one they gave on Later… with Jools, all a bit low key.
Thankfully that’s not how it panned out.
Full of quirky energy and part-temptress, like Bardot in a Godard film, part Ninja from the Go! Team.
Rattling through all except the slow songs from her album ‘Youth Novels’. The songs were simpler, more beat driven live than on record and all the better for it
‘Dance Dance Dance’ played out with almost primal drumming driving the song forward and ironically making it whole lot more danceable in the process.
She finished off with a cover version of a Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Can I Kick It?’ Going between rapping and singing which managed to be both odd and yet work at the same time before literally rushing off out of the venue.
On tonight’s showing and given the crowd’s demand for more it can’t be long before she’s rushing back here again.
more photos from Teenage Kicks on Flickr
//Andrew McKenna