Vapnet occupy a space somewhere between Swedish dance and Swedish pop, favoring the motion of the former and the bright melodies of the latter. Perhaps there's nothing intrinsically original or even noteworthy about that combination, but the band-- which includes Martin Abrahamsson, Martin Hanberg, Anna Modin, and David Nygård-- puts a personal stamp on its music. Vapnet favor open-ended song structures that permit long instrumental passages and unexpected melodic twists, even though Abrahamsson and Hanberg typically write traditional verse-chorus patterns. In 2006, when Sweden seemed to produce great acts on a weekly basis, Vapnet's dense production and inventive arrangements made their full-length debut, Jag Vet Hur Man Väntar, a stand-out, one whose concept-- each song was named after a street in their hometown of Östersund (thanks to reader Fredrik for that info)-- helped to frame the music without constraining it.
Något Dål**igt Nytt Har Hänt, their EP-length follow-up, isn't an epilogue to that album, but an expansion of its sound. Vapnet have obviously spent a lot of time in the studio since Jag Vet Hur Man Väntar, laboring over these new tracks and ambitiously filling each one with as many ideas as they'll hold. Fussiness becomes them: The music is polished without sounding slick, busy without sounding overloaded, and cerebral but warm. All those sonic details add up to a compelling, often exciting whole: On "Släpa Hem Mig", each softly percussive tone has been painstakingly sculpted to shift the accent from beat to beat. Opener "Tjernobyl" falls away for a few seconds of abrupt silence before its final verse-- it's both a dramatic pause and an intake of breath before the rush of melody.
These studio elements mingle easily with the band's live instrumentation, striking a fine balance. Every track on Något dål**igt Nytt Har Hänt has its own signature instrument: Modin's flute plays a soft, simple theme on "Tjernobyl" that blossoms into something large and almost transcendent by song's end, and on "Häll ihop", Jens Lekman's baritone mingles with Per-Olof Stjernered's reedy saxophone over a subtle bossa nova-inflected beat. Abrahamsson's melodica glides across the shuffling dance rhythms of "Tar Tillbaka Det", shedding all of the instrument's connections with Damon Albarn. On "Mera Om Varandra", a choir of voices joins Hanberg on the final chorus, as if the EP has been secretly building to that moment all along, while Nygård's trombone provides a poignant denouement on the brief closer "Tjernobyl (Repris)".
But nothing is as it seems with Vapnet. The band's name means weapon, yet their music sounds too upbeat and unabashedly enthusiastic to be threatening. The title Något Dål**igt Nytt Har Hänt even translates (roughly) to Something new bad has happened, but the songs betray no sense of doom, at least not musically. In fact, the obvious joy these musicians take in crafting such sophisticated, surprising songs has made them one of the most interesting bands in Sweden-- or anywhere else for that matter.
