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biography / portrait

Moonbabies are possibly one of Sweden's most exciting and adventurous bands. Since the early 2000's the band has released a suite of high-quality albums and ep's and toured extensively with sold-out shows in countries like Germany, Sweden and the USA. Moonbabies have been hyped by both critics and an ever growing following in the USA, not least in Canada, which may not come as a surprise since the band share a similair artistic and musical approach with Canadian acts like The Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene and Stars. Carina Johansson and Ola Frick enjoy themselves the most, either on stage or being in their studio surrounded by electronics, microphones and cables. The pair met a late night in 1995, in Malmö, Sweden, and found - love apart - a strikingly similair taste for great pop songs. After a long hot summer of performing their favorite covers, while on an inter-rail busking trip all over Europe, it seemed inevitable to start a band together. Five years later, the bands material started to take shape and find its exclusiveness. Band-members came and left, until Ola and Carina eventually decided to continue as a duo, and in 2001 their debut album 'June and Novas' was released. Out on Seattle indie Duckweed, 'June and Novas', the band's full-length debut, was a diverse effort of atmospheric lo-fi pop and fuzzed-out guitars, which without any budget became a minor breakthrough both among the underground music fans and the critics. The album was proceeded with a monthly long tour in northern USA and some major festival performances in Scandinavia.   Its follow-up, 2004's 'The Orange Billboard' (licensed through Parasol/ Hidden Agenda in the U.S.) was a decidedly more pop affair, filled to the weist with razor-sharp classic pop. Moonbabies created their own mini-universe, with a curious hybrid of old´n´new, and succeded to sneak in influences from Kate Bush and E.L.O. as well as hints of the Flaming Lips and My Bloody Valentine. The album met praise in the American and Scandinavian music press, and climbed a month after the release to the 1# position of the charts of Emusic - most downloaded single and album, February 2004 - and also ended up on the top of many writer's and music lovers top ten lists later that year.   The band connected with the european booking agencies Motor/EMA /Mikrokultur (Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire and more), and backed up by a cast of invited musicians, Moonbabies embarked on a tour in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Sweden. By many sold-out shows and major festival appearances, the band had won the hearts of plenty with their euphoric performances.Through small-time independent labels and distribution the album sold a strong 11 000 copies in Europe, North America and Japan, due to national and collage air-play and the word spread through various blogs and internet communities. Last year the band released a stopgap 8-track mini album entitled "War on Sound". The opening titletrack which also will be included on the forthcoming album, was recently being picked out for a key-scene of the ABC  TV-series Grey's Anatomy.  Currently the band is working on their - yet untitled - 3rd full-length album, which is planned to be completed around mid-summer. On the CD you'll find some raw mixes from the latest studio sessions. Discography: War On Sound (Mini Album 2005) The Orange Billboard (Album 2004) Standing On The Roof/Filtering the Daylight (EP 2002) June And Novas (Album 2001) We're Layabouts (EP 2001) I'm Insane but so are You (Single 2001) Air>>>Moon>>>Stereo (EP 1999) The liveband are: Carina Johansson (Vocals, Moog, Stagepiano) Ola Frick (Vocals, Electric Guitar & Acoustic, Bass) Frans af Schmidt (Electric Guitar & Bass) Jens Jungmark (Electric Guitar & Acoustic, Piano) Anders Sejr Davidsen (Drums) (source:www.moonbabies.com)