Biography

With a sound that marries vintage keyboards, gently twanging guitars, and hushed vocals to subdued dream-like psychedelic pop that resonates with the influence of soundtrack music, the Swedish group Death and Vanilla picked up the torch that bands like Broadcast and Stereolab carried in the '90s and 2000s. Their records display a keen melodic sense, whether they are bright and sunny, like 2015's "California Owls" single, or a little gloomy, as on their 2019 album Are You a Dreamer? Their sound translates well to the extremes of psychedelia, whether it's dark and cinematic like their live scores for vintage (Vampyr) and notorious (The Tenant) films, or light and vaporous like their 2023 album Flicker. Formed in the town of Malmö by Marleen Nilsson and Anders Hansson, the duo debuted on record with a self-titled four-song EP in 2010. Using vintage instruments including Moog synths and Mellotrons, their sound was dreamlike and very precise at once. They returned in 2012 with a self-titled full-length album, which like the previous EP was released by Hands in the Dark Records. That same year the band was invited by the Lund Fantastisk Film Festival to provide the live soundtrack for a screening of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1932 horror movie Vampyr, for which they expanded the group's lineup to include Magnus Bodin on Moog and Petter Herbertsson on bass and glockenspiel, with Magnus Westerholm providing vibraphonette and percussion. The music was recorded and released on cassette in 2013 by the Moon Glyph label. After releasing the "From Above" single in 2013, the duo caught the ear of Fire Records, which signed them as they began work on their next album. Working in their rehearsal space, Nilsson, Bodin (who was now a member of the band), and Hansson recorded their songs on one microphone only, a Sennheiser from the '70s they found for cheap at a flea market. Named after Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, To Where the Wild Things Are was released on vinyl and CD by Fire in May 2015. That same year, the trio of Nilsson, Hansson, and Bodin appeared at the CinemaScore festival in Spain to provide live accompaniment to a screening of the Roman Polanski film The Tenant. In 2016, Fire reissued Death and Vanilla's first album and an expanded version of their debut EP. The band maintained a slate of live appearances, and in 2017 contributed a cover of Bert Jansch's "Moonshine" for Fire's Lost Library EP. Also that year, Fire reissued Death and Vanilla's Vampyr soundtrack on vinyl LP, and the label issued a recording of the group's score for The Tenant in early 2018. All the while, the group was working on another album, creating loops and stitching together melodies, then combining them into songs. They worked in their rehearsal space again, then moved home to record vocals. This time they used a live drummer, Måns Wikenmo, and recorded his parts at Tambourine Studio in Malmö. The resulting album, 2019's Are You a Dreamer?, was quieter and darker than previous efforts, though it still relied on the same mix of influences and sounds. As with much of the world, the band was quiet over the next few years, mostly locked away working on music. When they reappeared with an album in 2023, a subtle change showed up in their music. 2023's Flicker added elements of dub reggae, early new wave, and some avant-garde sonics inspired by Phillip Glass. The result was the band's lightest, most melodic, and cheerful album to date. Soon after its release, they traveled to North America for a short run of shows, including a slot at SXSW. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi