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Those Dancing Days skipped onto the stage looking like girls whose mum’s – all undoubtedly called ‘Mrs Cakebread’ – had just said they could stay up late and watch telly. It was like walking in on five ditsy teenagers experiencing their first Swedish sleepover, but without the popcorn. The all-female Stockholm quintet performed songs from their first album, due out last month but delayed whilst singer Linnea Jonsson and bassist Mimmi Evrell graduated from school. Bless. In fact everything about the band epitomised the essence of youth, made flesh by the green wristbands they wore to prove they were over-16 and therefore allowed alcohol. Yes, it really was that sweet.
You have to have a penchant for this kind of accessible, vivacious pop. Singles ‘Those Dancing Days’ and ‘Hitten’ (so called because the band thought the song had ‘hit quality’) demonstrate their tingly, 60’s pop sensibilities, but sometimes it drifts into clumpy schmaltz. This was not helped by the venue. Disappointingly for a place called Audio Linnea’s vocal was completely inaudible, and the crowd were left to guess the words on most of the songs. It will be interesting to hear what Wichita, home to Peter, Bjorn & John do with the songs on vinyl. Yet it’s hard to be anything but smiley towards Those Dancing Days. They hadn’t played a gig outside Sweden before the end of last year and this is their first UK tour. They are ‘so’ young.
Star of the show was drummer Cissi Efraimsson, a chiaroscuro duck on pop’s treacherous pond. Demure and calm on the surface, paddling furiously beneath the water to keep the band afloat. Surprisingly she never once looked at bassist Mimmi, instead playing off the keyboards. An unusual take on the rhythm section. Wild and powerful with a beguiling smile, she was simply mesmerising.
The enduring image of the evening was in the fun the band were having, and indeed how much fun it was to watch. A bit like a musical happy-go-lucky. Those Dancing Days, here to make your heart fair burst to be young.
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