David Fridlund - vocals, piano, acoustic guitar
Magnus Bjerkert - trumpet, organ, piano
Mikael Carlsson - electric guitar, percussion, backing vocals
Alexander Madsen - electric guitar
Conny Fridh - bass
John Bjerkert - drums

America has some catching up to do. Considering that the Swedish band David & the Citizens has been showered with awards and accolades across Scandinavia and Europe, it’s a damn shame that none of their music has ever been released in North America until now. David & the Citizens possess an intelligent, lyrical sound, sometimes joyous and sometimes melancholy, but always brilliantly orchestrated and catchy as hell.

David & the Citizens’ songs speak earnestly of the great subjects in life - love, loss, and despair - through buoyant melodies & beautifully crafted pop songs. The band’s dramatic live show displays their more upbeat, “party” side, but on record their music comes across as compassionate, thoughtful, and often heartrendingly bittersweet. They have received critical acclaim from various fronts: the track "Song Against Life" from their debut full length LP "For All Happy Endings" had a prolonged stint at #1 in the MTV Up North chart; they received a nomination for a Swedish Grammy (Best Pop Group) in 2004; they’ve performed at numerous major European indie rock festivals; and P3, one of Sweden’s largest television stations, produced a documentary on the band that has been aired repeatedly throughout Sweden and Denmark.

Singer/songwriter David Fridlund formed David & the Citizens in 1999, after he moved from Stockholm to Malmö, taking his four-track with him. By 2000, the band included Conny Fridh on bass, Alexander Madsen on electric guitar, Mikael Carlsson on drums, and Magnus Bjerkert on trumpet. Aside from Fridlund’s solo album “Amaterasu” (released by Hidden Agenda in 2005), none of the band’s music has ever been released in North America in any form, until now. New York-based label Friendly Fire Recordings (Asobi Seksu, Faunts) is releasing a six-song, self-titled EP featuring some of the best songs from the band’s history, including several that are difficult to find even in Sweden. Berkeley- and LA-based artists Brendan Monroe and Xanthe Hohalek have created the EP’s beautiful artwork, and Mattias Alkberg (from the Bear Quartet, who themselves have a dozen full-length albums under the belt) guests on the fiercely propulsive song “Big Chill.”

Friendly Fire will be releasing the full-length album “Until the Sadness is Gone” later in 2006, but first it’s time for America to catch up with one of Sweden’s musical darlings and get hip to their sparkling back catalogue. Do you like Belle & Sebastian minus the twee? Bright Eyes minus the histrionics? The Decemberists minus the sea shanties? Add that up, then stir in a huge dose of  Scandinavian popsong brilliance, and you have David & the Citizens. You’re in for a treat.

"Their sound is a sunny, spastic, orchestrated, multi-layered flavor of indie pop music, not too far removed from Neutral Milk Hotel, with a similar hint of darkness and melancholy in amongst the sweet melodies and harmonic vocals... I personally think it's pretty fantastic" - Music for Robots