Beezewax have been pillars of the Norwegian indie scene for over a decade, fading in and out of the scene, as bands do from time to time, but providing consistently energising material throughout. We are privileged to premiere their new song ‘Mom and Dad’ which is in fact a cover of a song by fellow Scandinavian legends The Bear Quartet.
There is a quiet insistency in this song: an energy and sense of innocence and wonder underpinned by gorgeous jangly guitars and an innate melancholia. You can hear faint echoes of Teenage Fanclub, C86 era legends and Postcard/Sarah Records in the delivery.
On the choice for this song, the band says:
The opening song of Bear Quartet’s album ‘Personality Crisis’ ( 1998) ‘Mom and Dad’ has always been a big hit for us. Bands like Bear Quartet from Sweden were just as mythical to us as bands from the US or the UK – with members like Jari Happalainen who in our world was this perfect god-like guitar player.
The album was produced by an even bigger hero and mystery to us in Bjørn Olsson who we discovered while recording our third album in Stockholm. Producer Pelle Gunnerfeldt would put the record UPA on every morning to wake us up. The songs on that album later became the music for Håkan Hellstrøm «Et kolikbarns bäkannelser».
The sound of ‘Mom and Dad’ and the overall album encapsulated for us the very specific sound of what we loved about Swedish music, it reminded us of Ted Gärdestads ‘Oh Hvilken Herlig Dag’, with the chiming acoustic guitars and with arrangements and instrumentation bled over from 70s prog and folk, of ABBA, of tv shows we watched as kids like Saltkråkan, the music to Astrid Lindgren’s stories by Georg Riedel and in later years in the art by Mamma Andersson.
This song is always a beautiful moment transporting us straight to high summer nights in our houses by the lake where we grew up.
This heartfelt endorsement of musical history and vital influences rings deeply to anyone who loves music and its organic growth. Indeed, we here at Backseat Mafia have long been great fans of the strength and power of Scandinavian indie music (stretching back to The Wannadies, Soundtrack of Our Lives through to Eskobar and ShapeShiftingAliens to name but a few). ‘Mom and Dad’ is a beautiful tribute from an important band.
Beezewax are:
Kenneth Ishak, vocals, guitar
Jan-Erik Hoel, bass
Mattias Krohn Nielsen, guitar
Chris Goveia Jacobsen, drums
The single is out now through Sellout! Music.
