The vastness of Swedish melancholy, like the coldness of Swedish winters and the frequency of Swedish suicides, has probably been overstated in the popular imagination. Still, the power of The Spin We’re In, the first Astropol album, radiates from a forlorn, chilled and broken heart.
Or three hearts, belonging to Bebban Stenborg, keyboardist and backing vocalist for Shout Out Louds; Björn Yttling, bassist and keyboardist and vocalist for Peter Bjorn and John; and Smash, an evidently mysterious underground figure in Stockholm’s music scene.
Together, they uphold a Swedish-affiliated characteristic that cannot be overstated in the popular imagination or in actuality: a talent for music that, if it isn’t “pop” as in popular, is “pop” as in memorable, accessible and pretty.
It also creates unexpected tension from pop’s expected quirks, such as furious bongos reverberating over the EDM-based rhythm of “Make Love Stay,” a keyboard refrain making kewpie-doll faces at the threatening gloom of “The Shelter of My Love” and the sentiment of “True Love” scuffing each footfall while hopping through a sunny melody.
The 10 tracks here need the lighter variations, because their overall theme is the death of romantic love. And, although Astropol doesn’t describe every death as a murder or suicide, it—and especially Stenborg, as lead singer—regards every death with the mien of a detective taking over a crime scene.
Fortunately, as far as the pleasure principle of the music is concerned, the detective could be from a Scandinavian mystery or thriller novel: a humane and easily hurt soul buried not far inside a carapace of resignation and realism.
Sensuality does thaw and crack Astropol’s carapace, and the lush beauty and emotions of The Spin We’re In do retain the colors with which romantic love paints the world. Astropol mourns the death and remembers the life.
