Spunsugar is a

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

band from

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It consists of band members Cordelia Moreau, Elin Ramstedt and Felix Sjöström. The trio describes themselves as 'an

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band with shoegaze influences'. Their music has a higher tempo than that of their peer shoegazing bands. The room for

guitar riffs A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accomp ...

and the use of a drum machine further define their sound.Official Spunsugar page
on the website of record label Adrian Recordings. Retrieved 4 August 2021. The band's first EP, ''Mouth Full Of You'' was released in 2019. In 2020 they released their first album, called ''Drive-Through Chapel''.

History

Cordelia Moreau and Elin Ramstedt met each other at the age of thirteen in the village they grew up in. They both had their own music preferences. Cordelia liked

twee pop Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from the 1986 ''NME'' compilation ''C86''. Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy–girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love ...

jangle Jangle or jingle-jangle is a sound typically characterized by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars (particularly 12-strings) played in a droning chordal style (by strumming or arpeggiating). The sound is mainly associated with pop m ...

and

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

. Elin mainly listened to heavy metal,

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

and

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

. Together they discovered a shared love for

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

and

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such as ...

. At the age of fifteen, Cordelia and Elin started a four-member band. Elin was the

lead vocalist The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

and played

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

. Cordelia played the

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. They played mostly in youth clubs at the time. The group eventually disbanded, but Cordelia and Elin kept writing songs together for a while.Simianthinker (2021)
Meet Swedish Shoegaze Trio Spunsugar
''Queen City Sounds and Art''. Retrieved 4 August 2021. After a five-year hiatus, the two women found each other again in the city of

. In 2018 they recorded two

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

songs at Cordelia's student flat. They shared the resulting

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

with Felix Sjöström, a classmate of Cordelia. Shortly after Felix joined the two of them as their

bass player A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...

. Under the name ''Spunsugar'' they wrote songs and played at smaller venues for a year. In 2019 they signed with record label

Adrian Recordings Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the main ...

. That same year their first EP, ''Mouth Full Of You'', got released. The band followed this up in 2020 with their first full-length album, titled ''Drive-Through Chapel''. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

the band was unable to tour after their debut album released. They instead decided to spend time writing new music. This resulted in material for a new EP, ''Things That I Confuse'', which the band released in the fall of 2021. The song ''Rodan'' was released before the EP as a single.J.N. (2021)
Spunsugar talks shoegaze-tinged explorations on their debut album and being influenced by Belinda Carlisle: interview
‘’Messed Up Mag’’. Retrieved 29 August 2021.

Sound

Spunsugar combines the dense texture of

with the depressing and pulsating character of

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

. The band draws their inspiration from the wider

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

underground music Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...

of the '70s, '80s and early '90s. Clear influences are the jarring shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine, the

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

, and the droning and bleakness of

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

. These darker elements and the cold, industrial instrumentation are contrasted with clear

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However, ...

and the angelic singing of Elin Ramstedt. It produces a mixture that reminds of bands like Chromatics and

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrum ...

.Kenneally, C. (2020)
Spunsugar deliver menacing shoegaze on new single ''Happier Happyless''
''The Line of Best Fit''. Retrieved 4 August 2021. The songs by Spunsugar do have a higher

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

than the usual shoegazing. The room given to

and the presence of a drum machine also define their sound. The result is a synthesis of electronic and rock music. These characteristics put Spunsugar at somewhat of a remove from classical shoegaze bands like Cocteau Twins or

Slowdive Slowdive is a British rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Rachel Goswell on vocals and guitar, Neil Halstead on vocals and guitar, Christian Savill on guitar, Nick Chaplin on bass and Simon Scott on drum ...

. The incorporation of styles like

and

noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...

, as well as the electronic influences, place the band closer to acts like

Curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...

Swervedriver Swervedriver are an English alternative rock band formed in Oxford in 1989 around core members Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge. Between 1989 and 1998, the band released four studio albums and numerous EPs and singles despite a considerable f ...

and

Ringo Deathstarr Ringo Deathstarr is an American shoegaze band from Austin, Texas, formed by singer/songwriter Elliott Frazier in 2005. The name of the band is a combination of the Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and the ''Star Wars'' Death Star. History Ringo Deat ...

. Their next EP, ''Things That I Confuse'', was described by the band as 'dressed-down' and incorporating

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

influences.

Discography

Studio albums * ''Drive-Through Chapel'' (2020, Adrian Recordings) EPs * ''Mouth Full Of You'' (2019, Adrian Recordings) * ''Things That I Confuse'' (2021, Adrian Recordings) Singles * ''Native Tongue'' (2020, Adrian Recordings) * ''I Shouldn't Care'' (2020, Adrian Recordings) * ''Happier Happyless'' (2020, Adrian Recordings) * ''(You Never) Turn Around'' (2021, Adrian Recordings) * ''Rodan'' (2021, Adrian Recordings)

References

{{Reflist Musical groups established in 2018 Musical groups from Malmö Shoegazing musical groups Swedish alternative rock groups Swedish musical groups