It’s a Tuesday night in November, the first snow of winter is falling on the Medborgarplatsen square and Stockholm’s bright young things are gathering for that evening’s indie happening in the Debaser club. The requisite look on every other young Swede coming through the doors is distinctly British, a pastiche of the UK indie fashion, with floppy fringes and pastel jerseys for the boys, bobs and hair slides for the girls.
The plethora of new groups emerging from Sweden is threatening to make the nation the most interesting indie breeding-ground in Europe.
To make sense of the music you have to visit Sweden, and particularly Stockholm. If the new groups tend to come from provincial towns and cities, most of them gravitate to the capital, which has the necessary labels, recording studios and venues.
Befitting a milder generation, Stockholm’s indie kids aren’t likely to be found getting wasted on street corners. Instead, you’ll find young Stockholm maintaining the tradition of fika, a mid-morning (or late-afternoon) rendezvous for coffee or pastries. There are innumerable coffee shops throughout the city, but one of the most attractive must be the Bla Porten, or Blue Gate, in Djurgarden, a refectory-type building around a central courtyard, where live music is on offer in the summer.
If there is a hub of the Stockholm indie scene it is in the grid of streets on the south side of the city, below the Folkungagatan avenue, and now known as SoFo in imitation of London’s Soho and New York’s SoHo. With a growing array of hip handicraft shops, second-hand stores, tiny art galleries and design centres, the feel is a little bit Brooklyn, but rather closer to the homely charms of Edinburgh’s Stockbridge.
This is where you’ll find Stockholm’s arty set browsing through the displays at Grandpa, with its eclectic 1960s and 1970s furniture with period clothing to match, or Lisa Larsson Secondhand with outlandish leather gear and the sort of kitsch party dresses beloved of indie chicks. Tjallamalla is an outlet for new Swedish designers. Anilin is a little more eclectic and inventive. Those in search of stylish bargains should probably have visited three years ago, although Sweden is no longer quite as prohibitively expensive as it was.
SoFo is the place for a suitably sedate Stockholm bar-crawl, taking in traditional beer halls such as Ostgotakallaren — now given a veneer of trendiness with the arrival of the best Belgian and Czech beers — or Pelikan.
For the more established musicians, the Pet Sounds Bar on Skanegatan is the place for elegant album launchers and pre-gig cocktails.
You sense though that Stockholm struggles to summon up any anti-establishment ire with any conviction. On the north side of the city the atmosphere is elegantly affluent. You can get a measure of the city in the beautiful market hall at Ostermalmstorg, a gourmet paradise, with stalls piled high with dark reindeer and moose meat, fresh cheeses, or the chocolate stall of Betsy Sandberg.
Gamla stan, the old city, squeezed onto a tiny island between the river and the Baltic, has converted itself into a warren of tourist shops, restaurants and bars, comfortable and stylish, albeit a little too enthusiastic about selling you a troll or garish knitware.
Much of the Swedish indie phenomenon is run from a flat on Odengatan, a broad avenue to the west of the centre. Here Johan Angergard, in between writing and performing with his band The Legends, runs Labrador records, Sweden’s most prolific indie label. Labrador is partly a homage to British labels such as El or Creation, yet seems to have a recognisably Swedish identity. Many of the groups dress not a million miles away from the comfy knitwear of Abba in their 1970s heyday, and there is as much emphasis on melody and wistfulness as Sweden’s greatest musical success story.
If there is a defining attitude it’s a coolness towards the pressures of commerce and success, a laid-back Scandinavian easiness that is a far cry from the angst and anguish of tortured performers railing against a cruel world.
It’s the song of a Sweden that doesn’t have to try too hard, and much of it is undeniably beautiful. With these melodies ringing around your head though, it’s worth taking the time to visit a museum that tells the story of a very different Sweden.
The Vasamuseet houses a relic from a very different Sweden — the warlike nation of military genius Gustavus Adolphus. The massive oak warship toppled over and sank almost as soon as it was launched. The story of its discovery and recovery is almost as impressive as its construction.
The museum is on the island of Djurgarden, a 10-minute ferry ride from the city. It remains in royal ownership, but has become a summer playground for Stockholm’s young crowd. With their picnics and daylong fika sessions, their fringes, thick-framed specs and artful innocence, they could have stepped straight out of an early Belle & Sebastian song. Except now, they have a soundtrack of their own.
Details: Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies from Glasgow Prestwick to Stockholm Skavsta from £28.17 return including all taxes and charges.
The Scandic Sergel Plaza (00 46 8 517 26300, www.scandic-hotels.com/sergelplaza) has doubles in a central location from £70 including breakfast.
For an introduction to Swedish indie, visit www.labrador.se, which offers information and free downloads of several of the prominent groups.
