The Sounds are putting the finishing touches on their as-yet-untitled sophomore album, due early next year via New Line. The Swedish rock act spent about two months in Oakland, Calif., recording with producer/engineer Jeff Saltzman, who was behind the boards for the Killers’ “Hot Fuss.”
This week, the Sounds were tweaking tracks at New York’s Stratosphere Studio, co-owned by Fountains Of Wayne/Ivy principal Adam Schlesinger and former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha.
Keyboardist Jesper Anderberg tells Billboard.com the set will most likely feature “between 11 or 13 songs,” but at present, the only confirmed title is “Queen All Apologies.” In fact, Anderberg says only one track has been performed live, and that even it “has changed a lot since then.”
“A lot of stuff on the album sounds like old Sounds,” he says. “The last record, as the debut, was hard for us to figure out what we want to sound like. This one is more like what we sound like live. It’s not overproduced, like maybe the last album was.”
As for the presence of Schlesinger and Iha, Anderberg says that while they have not been directly involved with songwriting or musical contributions, “they’re really interested in our music and making it sound better. It’s more of a friend-to-friend thing, as opposed to taking musical advice from someone you don’t know.”
Touring in North America has rubbed off a bit on the group’s sound, but Anderberg also professes an enduring allegiance to the music of Europe. “One track is real dance-y — almost like a club hit,” he says.
The new set is the follow-up to 2003’s “Living in America,” which reached No. 31 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart. Anderberg says the Sounds will hopefully be back in North America for live dates later in the fall or early next year.
