Speedmarket Avenue

Speedmarket Avenue are a Swedish indie pop group whose freewheeling, infectious sound, rooted in old-school indie pop acts like Orange Juice and Comet Gain, places them in the same sparkling territory as Saturday Looks Good to Me and the Shout Out Louds. The band formed in Norrkoping, Sweden, in 2001 when multi-instrumentalist Johan Angantyr was introduced to longtime bandmates Isak Klasson, Thomas Holm, Magnus Lundin, and Tom Wilkstrom. Adopting the name Speedmarket Avenue, the quintet wasted no time in churning out four songs for a vinyl release on Modesto Records, 2002's Is Anything Ever Done? The following year found one of that disc's tracks, "I Can Tell by Her Eyes," going into regular rotation on the Swedish radio station P3; the track generated quite a bit of favorable critical buzz, notably from Sonic Magazine, and paved the way for a German tour and various high-profile Swedish gigs. Speedmarket Avenue's debut full-length, I'm Going to Let My New Swiss Army Knife Answer to That, was released on the Stockholm-based indie label Fickle Fame in 2004. Amid the critical accolades for its debut, the band underwent some significant lineup changes; vocalist Sibille Attar was welcomed into the fold and bassist Lundin went on to be replaced by Jesper Klein. Having spent a couple years touring and collaborating with other artists (notably, Attar and Klassan recorded backup vocals for Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out of This Country), Speedmarket Avenue returned to the studio in 2007 to record their second full-length album with the help of Jari Haapalainen. Way Better Now was released on Spain's Elefant Records the following year. ~ Margaret Reges, All Music Guide