There’s a couple of things about Sweden that I like the most – Swedish meatballs, Ikea Furniture and most importantly, their indie music scene. Not only do they have great taste in affordable but stylish furniture, but the Swedes have actually nailed down the heart and soul of what Indie music is – unconventional, artistic and always with a do-it-yourself feel.
I figure, it also helps that they get government grants just to round up the garage band and rehearse. If every country had that, I’d be running out of server space just to list all the Indie bands of the world.
So, to restart the blog, I’ll be featuring Swedish indie music everyday for the rest of the week. And what better way to start than to feature one of the best cover songs I’ve heard to date. This one is from the now defunct Swedish band Free Loan Investments – a cover of the OMD classic “If You Leave”. It’s far from the electro pop version that you heard at the prom scene in Pretty In Pink – this one’s a whole new breed. If words can describe what it sounds like, it would be an upbeat version of If You Leave with synth horns and sung as a duet with a cute sounding Swedish girl and the guy in the Ikea commercials. (Notice the 3rd reference to Ikea in this whole article…I can’t help it. Honestly, he does sound like that guy in the Ikea commercials). Despite how unappealing I might’ve described it, it’s surprisingly lovable. If they ever do a remake of Pretty In Pink, they should definitely use this (and probably change the design of that dress Molly Ringwald’s character wore – it was absolutely horrendous!).
Not only is this an amazing song, but it’s an amazing song that’s free for download (which makes it an extremely amazing song). You can check out the link below to listen to it or download if for free at Last.fm:
https://www.last.fm/music/Free+Loan+Investments/-/If+You+Leave
