Cardigans First Band On The Moon [LP]

The Cardigans: Nina Persson (vocals, snaps); Lasse Johansson (guitar, keyboards); Peter Svensson (guitar); Bengt Lagerberg (flute, drums); Magnus Sveningsson (bass). Additional personnel: Asa Hakansson, Inga Zeppezauer, Mattias Svensson, Maria Holm, Ronnie Weber, Gabriele Freese, Anna Bergstrom (violin); Ivan Bakran (cello, acoustic bass); Annette Helmers (cello); David Wilczewski (flute); Sven Andersson (saxophone); Peter Lindgard (trumpet); Patrik Bartosch (Clavinet); Lynette Koyana, Ulf Thuresson (background vocals). Recorded at Tambourine Studios #1 and #2, Malmo, Sweden. Sweden's Cardigans are steeped in a tradition of lush European pop that loosely stretches from the Beatles, through Abba, to Stereolab. But while FIRST BAND ON THE MOON, the quintet's second American album, hints at these touchstones and others like them, the muscular guitars that emanate from behind the Cardigans' expansive arrangements easily distinguish them from their forebears. Great pop hooks are, after all,