Clocking in at just over one year old (the band was ‘born’ in 2011) indie-electro-pop duo Sameblod already have one stunning EP to their name and are now swiftly following that with their debut full length, Braided Memos. In an incredible show of bravado, this 10-track collection features not one of the songs from the Our Future EP. The thing is they don’t need them.
The pair originally met in a small town in the north of their native Sweden where they studied music together. They eventually found they had a mutual love of the same kind of music and soon began to ‘get wasted and jam for fun after school’ with no intention that the music they made would ever go anywhere. That was until people heard it of course.
Our Future, which was released last year, is a very laid back and relaxed collection, quite measured in its approach and full of controlled and precision electronica. On Braided Memos the duo allow themselves no less control, but they have awoken from their tranquillity and stepped out to smell the warmth and optimism of a new day.
Asked to describe their sound, Frederick Rundqvist and Mikael Mattisson classified it as ”hopeful-electronic-mellow-pop with a lot of different influences”, they pretty much nailed it. The album is full of confidence, of sanguinity, even in its darker moments there is an underlying sense of hope. Like the pea beneath the mattress of synthesiser sounds upon mattress after mattress of synthesiser sounds, try as you like, you will still be able to feel it there. “UR Road”, for example, is carefree, joyously whistling away, happy and content with life. It’s flamboyant, animated and uplifting with a smile that is infectious. Similarly, “Always”, which follows it, is the bright sun shining on young, happy-go-lucky people laughing and joking as they travel and jape together across European fields, mountain paths, beaches. All those places beautiful people go in music videos.
Not all the tracks are as overtly uplifting but there is a wistful tenderness to almost all, “The Hardest Choice”, which features fellow Swede and purveyor of delightfully warm dream-pop in his own right, Summer Heart, begins and ends with birdsong. Rather than sounding twee, it completely fits the summery feel and transports you to the countryside.
There is some dark to counter balance this light though and the glacial indietronica of Our Future is not entirely absent. It adds another layer to the album; the sometimes sparse, sometimes rich electronics swell and pitch you up, crowdsurfing atop the reverb, the echoes and the gentle rhythmical beats. Atop the hope.
Braided Memos is a fantastic debut album from two highly talented and prolific young musicians that will live long on the stereo. It is out today (20 April) via Norway’s Riot Factory records and you can pick it up digitally on Amazon.
The Our Future EP is available to buy on the Sameblod Bandcamp page .
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Listen: Sameblod – UR Road
Wednesday Evening Earworm – feat. Sameblod, “Kick It Out”
Alphabet Bands 
a beautifully written piece and having heard the album now I completely agree. Its crisp and beautiful!