Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
-
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
experimental
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
band based in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, consisting of husband and wife duo Simon and Erika Angell,
Ben Rayner Ben Rayner is a music critic and writer for the ''Toronto Star'' since 1998. His commentary on artists is extensively cited across the industry. Indie88 considers him "of the most respected industry professionals around."
In 2012, he served on t ...
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', June 17, 2014. who are backed up at times by guest musicians.
History
Prior to forming the duo, Simon Angell was a guitarist in Patrick Watson's band, while Erika Angell was based in
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 ...
, where she led bands Josef & Erika and The Moth and was backup vocalist for
Loney, Dear
Loney Dear is the pseudonym of Swedish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Emil Svanängen (born March 26, 1979). He has self-released four albums of music in his native Sweden. His first major release came in February, 2007 in the U.S. ...
.
Thus Owls formed as a four piece in 2007 when Erika Angell began collaborating with drummer Ola Hultgren, bassist Martin Höper and pianist Cecilia Persson. She met Montrealer Simon Angell while they were both on tour in Amsterdam the same year and he joined the group.
The band released ''Cardiac Malformations'' in 2009. ''Cardiac Malformations'' was recorded by Oskar Lindberg during five days in the Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg, Sweden. The band toured frequently over the next two years in support of the album, mainly in Europe and parts of North America, playing with such bands as Patrick Watson,
Karkwa
Karkwa is an indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, formed in 1998.
History
Formed in 1998, the group consists of vocalist and guitarist Louis-Jean Cormier, keyboardist François Lafontaine, bass guitarist Martin Lamontagne, percussionist ...
and
Little Dragon
Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic music band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed in 1996. The band consists of Yukimi Nagano (vocals, percussion), Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Wallin (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards).
Little Dragon's ...
. Simon Angell was also a contributor on ''Piano mal'', the 2012 debut album by
Julien Sagot
Julien Sagot is a Canadian musician. Formerly a percussionist for the indie rock band Karkwa from 1998 to 2012, since that band's breakup he has released four albums as a solo singer-songwriter.Philippe Renaud"Julien Sagot en solo" ''Le Devoir'', ...
.Émilie Côté "Julien Sagot: musicien libre" '' La Presse'', January 28, 2012.
The following album, ''Harbours'', was released on January 23, 2013. ''Harbours'' was recorded at the La Frette studio in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
Erika and Simon Angell subsequently moved to Montreal, and enlisted local drummer Stef Schneider and keyboard player Parker Shper to round out the permanent lineup alongside bassist Morgan Moore. Their third album, ''Turning Rocks'', was released in 2014 on
Secret City Records
Secret City Records is a Canadian independent record label based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The music label was founded in 2006 by Andrew Rose and Justin West, originally as sublabel of Justin Time Records. It became fully independent in late ...
, and was a longlisted nominee for the
2014 Polaris Music Prize The 2014 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 22, 2014 at The Carlu event theatre in Toronto, Ontario."Polaris Music Prize announces 2014 long list" . '' Aux'', June 19, 2014.
In 2017, the band performed in a Leonard Cohen tribute concert in Montreal. In 2018 they released their fourth album, ''The Mountain That We Live Upon''. The Angells were accompanied on the album by guest musicians Laurel Sprengelmeyer, Nicolas Basque,
Michael Feuerstack
Michael Feuerstack is a Canadian indie rock musician, who has been associated with the bands Wooden Stars and Snailhouse.
Snailhouse was essentially a solo project with multiple contributing artists, including Julie Doiron of Eric's Trip, with ...
, Marc-André Landry and Jason Sharp.
In 2022, Simon and Erika Angell received a
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...
nomination for
Best Original Song
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
for "Lovers Are Falling", a song they contributed to the film ''
Woman in Car
''Woman in Car'' is a 2021 Canadian psychological thriller film, written, produced, and directed by Vanya Rose. The film stars Hélène Joy as Anne, a former archer who has happily settled into life as the trophy wife of a wealthy businessman, bu ...
ET Canada
''ET Canada'' (previously referred to as ''Entertainment Tonight Canada'') is a Canadian entertainment news television series, using the same format as the American entertainment newsmagazine ''Entertainment Tonight''. ''ET Canada'' is a broadcas ...
'', February 15, 2022.
Discography
*''Cardiac Malformations'' (2009)
*''Harbours'' (2011)
*''Turning Rocks'' (2014)
*''Black Matter'' (EP) (2015)
*''The Mountain That We Live Upon'' (2018)
* ''Who Would Hold You If the Sky Betrayed Us?'' (2022)