In 2011 Swedish singer songwriter Gustav Nilsson released his fifth EP, ‘Makeup On, Letdowns Off’, a collection of tunes which mixed power pop and indie in a way that marked a departure from his more rootsy beginnings. Not perfect by any means, the recording had spirit – and one track in particular, ‘Paper Cuts’, set Nilsson aside as an artist worth watching. Not too long after the release of ‘Makeup On’, Nilsson reappeared as frontman with retro pop/indie pop outfit Rooni [not to be confused with Taylor Locke’s defunct US band Rooney]. The band issued a couple of standalone tracks via their soundcloud account in 2012 – both of which showed promise – but it was the release of their song ‘Ambulance’ the following year which really hit the mark. ‘Ambulance’ is one of those tunes that once heard a few times really sticks; its blend of early 90s indie and a knowing wink to power pop of many years previously resulted in an almost perfect three minute earworm. The styles with which Nilsson had experimented on his last solo EP had finally blossomed into something marvellous.
Tag Archives: power pop
ABSENT FRIENDS: The Genuine Fakes
In 2010 Real Gone gave coverage to a debut album by Swedish power pop sensations, The Genuine Fakes. Like most sites, we found the album – although not perfect – had lots of lovable material and the band’s commercial potential was pretty big.
We heard little from them after that. Kool Kat Records issued a hard copy of ‘The Striped Album‘ (previously only a download) and included a bonus disc. Real Gone included a non-album track on our first full length sampler in December 2011. …And then nothing.
Parks & Recreation: Real Gone meets Brian E. King
In 2010, an unexpected power pop gem appeared in the release schedules by an unknown band named Oranjuly. The release played almost like a history of power pop, pulling influence from Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney, Jellyfish and Weezer on a strong set of songs. A year or so passed and we hadn’t heard much from the Oranjuly camp at all…until multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/songwriter Brian E. King re-appeared in a band named Parks. In the autumn of 2014, Real Gone caught up with Brian to find out what happened to the Oranjuly project and why they seemed destined to a be a one album deal.
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ABSENT FRIENDS: Mark Bacino
As part of our “catching up” series, Real Gone caught up with Mark Bacino, last seen in our columns in 2011.
Bacino gained some positive notices in the power pop community with his third full-length release ‘Queen’s English’, a mature album that moved away from his previous bubblegum styles and bought more Billy Joel and Randy Newman influences to the fore. It was a concept album of sorts about growth and family, the album shared Bacino’s love of New York. We hoped for a similarly classy follow-up, but the years passed and nothing appeared.
ABSENT FRIENDS: Oranjuly
With Real Gone celebrating its fifth anniversary in November 2014, we thought it would be a good time to catch up with a few faces and bands not featured in our columns for some time. Bands move on, bands split, bands plough on… In a first instalment of an ongoing series, we caught up with Brian E. King, mastermind behind Oranjuly to find out about his current activities.
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