In 2006, when Sofia Coppola included three songs by The Radio Dept., from their debut album, Lesser Matters and two EPs, on the soundtrack for her film Marie Antoinette, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Swedish dream pop outfit to expose their music to the world. Instead, things seemingly regressed, at least commercially. Though the fifteen-year old band’s second LP, Pet Grief, came out the same year as the Marie Antoinette soundtrack, it did not stir the expected buzz of their first record, nor saw much distribution in Europe, let alone in North America. Touring and promoting the album might have helped, but obviously, they didn’t see the purpose. Now four years after their small break, Johan Duncanson (vocals), Martin Larsson (guitar), and Daniel Tjäder (keyboards) have built up an unexpected anticipation of their third album, Clinging to a Scheme. Thanks to the Internet, The Radio Dept. has been slowly gaining fans with two albums and nine EPs.
Sweden seems to be a precision factory of manufacturing lush post-punk indie bands. The Radio Dept. shares similar influence as their label mates, The Mary Onettes (QRO album review), but the Lund trio is more interested in the periphery of their subjects, keeping it intellectual, whereas that Jönköping quartet are more visceral. There are those who like to argue about whether their latest album is a continuation of their previous LP, Pet Grief or throwback to their roots of 2003’s Lesser Matters, but The Radio Dept. is a progression of itself, and not a reference to any former collection of songs.
Clinging to a Scheme begins with jingle-jangly guitars that could brighten the darkest corner, providing a contrast to the underlying pulsating beat, while Johan Duncanson’s filtered voice gently wraps its warm shawl over the listener. As "Domestic Scene" finishes, the echoing words, "leaving just in time", remind the listener that this is no picnic in a sunny summer day, but a disintegration of a social paradigm. And this paradoxical pairing of music and lyrics is precisely why The Radio Dept.’s pretty, airy songs are far more effective and satisfying than other bands that love to churn out ethereal soundscapes.
For an album that cloaks in just over half an hour, The Radio Dept. packs in plenty of single-worthy tracks. The first single, "David", could move anyone’s hips from side to side in a suave manner, and is one of the less ‘pretty’ tracks on the album. The dance-floor pop, "Heaven’s On Fire", with sampling of Thurston Moore (QRO solo live review) statement on the youth culture from the documentary, 1991: the Year Punk Broke, sounds – well – pretty much like if Heaven was on fire. The infectious beats, and the brass section spliced in towards the end of the song, make it sound like there’s a party going on, but the lyrics reveal the frustration with people Duncanson view as charlatans. "Memory Loss ", "Token of Gratitude", and "You Stopped Making Sense" could be interpreted as the love songs of the album with gently pleading vocals and waterfall melodies, but then on a closer listen, Duncanson can’t help being paranoiacally introspective, and it was never really about his object of affection.
Every track on Clinging to a Scheme sounds effortless and natural, in spite of heavy use of synths and filters. But then you can say that about almost every song that The Radio Dept. has ever produced. The irregular beat on the bouncy "This Time Around", and the bass driven "Never Follow Suit", is just as prominent and consequential, as the harmony of the weightless, pensive vocals. It’s the pathos and indifference intermingled for you to pry apart and to take away what you will.
All the songs on Clinging to a Scheme recall many eighties and nineties post-punk bands, and "The Video Dept." could have been easily inserted to Ride’s Going Blank Again – if they were less depressing. At the same time, the Swedes’ influence on the California band, Letting Up Despite Great Faults (QRO interview), and the Filipino quartet, Moscow Olympics, is undeniable.
Unlike Phoenix (QRO live review), who also got their break through a Coppola picture, Lost In Translation, The Radio Dept. probably will never garner a nomination for the Grammy, or sell as many records as Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (QRO review). And in all likelihood, they prefer their low-profile status. The general public has long accepted post-punk pop, but shoe-gaze or nu-gaze or whatever-gaze you want to call it will stay in their safe little corner of the indie music world – for now.
MP3 Stream: "Heaven’s On Fire"
