New Vapnet

Today is turning out to be a celebration of Hybris, and that's certainly not a bad thing!

Vapnet (MySpace) has been around for three or four years now (more?), increasingly becoming a central piece of the Swedish guitar-pop scene. They play clean and crisp indie pop that, while always energetic, jangly, and summery, persistently has a melancholy air lingering, making their music enticingly contradicting and a little confusing (should you feel happy or sad? introspective or outward?) -- and the fact that they still sing in Swedish when practically every other Stockholm group is penning songs in English to make a legitimate jump to the U.S. doesn't clarify much.

But the music is so expressive; whatever it is you feel while listening to the sextet's tunes is probably approximately what they're trying to articulate in their mother tongue. The arrangements are crystal clear and meticulously put together -- nothing seems out of place, no chorus becomes tiresome, no melody leaves early or makes an unexpected turn, and every unorthodox instrument is welcome and never fails to appropriately integrate into the structure of the tune.

The band has a new album, Döda Fallet out on April 9 -- pre-order a hard copy here. The single from the LP, "Plötsligt händer det inte," is out now as a digital release and can be purchased here or you can pre-order the hard copy here. The below song is the b-side. You can find more freebies over at last.fm.

Vapnet - Aldrig Där