lavender recordings

I am just full of love for Sweden right now: I'm still contemplating the long drive to see Jens Lekman on a school night, but aside from that, Sweden is just everywhere in my life right now. As I was driving home, my iPod kept playing Tough Alliance songs whilst on shuffle, and my faithful Swedish backpack accompanies me to work most days. Now, there's another Swedish pleasure to add to my ever-growing list - Lavender Recordings from Uppsala!

Tonight was my first exposure to all the bands currently on Lavender. Firstly, there's the bedroom karaoke pop of Gothenburg's We Are Soldiers We Have Guns, replete with handclaps, dinky Casios and extra-sweet homemade harmonies. I love her sentiments on "Wherever I Lay My Hat": I'm the type of girls who gives a guy the eye, everybody knows. Yeah for being mischievously flirtatious! Next up is Fireflies from Chicago, who offer that classic late-summer pop sound of hazy vocals and warm guitars. It's the type of sound you can put on at any time of the year and instantly be transported to that moment when summer turns to spring autumn (edit: summer turns to spring? i wish!) and it's time to farewell the late afternoon sunshine and herald in crisp evenings. Unimaginably pretty stuff. Lastly, there's Afraid of Stairs, who are also from Gothenburg, and who cover off the fuzzy, buzzy, guitar pedally aspects that any good pop label needs to include on its roster. "When Nothing" is part-shoegazer, part late 80s UK indie. I could easily listen to this alongside my Ride records and drown myself in all those pedal effects and dreamy lyrics.

Lavender is also releasing delicious sounds from Days, Moscow Olympics, The Sunny Street and Tears Run Rings. It's all so damn tempting - I'm going to savour every morsel!

(You can listen to lots of these songs for free on the Lavender myspace page!)