I'm from Barcelona

Happy review of Swedish band "I'm From Barcelona" from DotMusic, below.

If we were going to have MagellanFest or Joyfiend Festival, we'd hold our breath until they, Jens Lekman, Herman Dune and The Spree showed up. Someone call the fire marshall because the bands alone will put attendance in triple digits.

DOWNLOAD> I'm from Barcelona - "We're from Barcelona"
DOWNLOAD> I'm from Barcelona - "Treehouse"

LAUNCH, Music on Yahoo! - I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends: "I'm From Barcelona - 'Let Me Introduce My Friends'

September 15th, Brixton Jamm. A stripped down version of I'm From Barcelona (a mere 22 members, as opposed to their full complement of 29), is bouncing through the Gig Of The Year. Frontman Emmanuel Lundgren dusts the dancing fans with handfuls of confetti, balloons bobs across the 250-strong crowd, band members rattle fruit maracas and work handheld bubble machines, guys with kazoos are hauled out of the audience, the atmosphere the happiest thing this side of The Flaming Lips. 'It's like a children's party', observes Lundgren, with a grin.

Depending on your temperament, this translates to either the Feelgood Band Of 2006 or a horrific saccharine overdose. Reviews thus far have been strangely polarised - critics either buy into the charm of a collective that was originally started as a bit of holiday fun by web designer Lundgren and wasn't meant to last longer than a week, or react viciously, sneering at the primary colours of the music and the supposedly twee subject matter. Can a band that sings about stamp collecting, chicken pox and treehouses be cool? Apparently not.

But like all true originals, I'm From Barcelona exist in their own parallel universe, a realm where petty notions of cool hold little sway. Sling all the names you want, because - la la la - they can't hear you, they don't care. Like the Polyphonic Spree before them, Lundgren and co are their own self-contained party, a gang of mates cheering each other on. But while you had to climb into a robe to really join the party with the Spree, IFB are a far more ramshackle and inclusive affair, a stage invasion that's spilled back off the stage.

The lyrics, therefore, are an open-hearted reflection of this ethos. Treehouse uses the concept of a "you and me house" to celebrate solidarity and outsiderdom ("nobody can see us"). "Collection Of Stamps" isn't so much about philately as optimism, the stamps representing the boundless possibilities of life ("Every stamp in my collection is a place we could go"). "Chicken Pox", meanwhile, isn't really about chicken pox at all but heartbreak, the line "You can't have it once you've had it" referring to Lundgren's capacity for falling in love.

Like The Flaming Lips, then, IFB are bruised optimists, but ones with just a few bruises and their wide-eyed sense of awe in the world very much intact. Whereas Wayne Coyne is obviously an adult trying to reclaim a sense of childlike joy, there's something genuinely childlike about these songs.

September 17th, the End Of The Road festival. While Richard Hawley plays on the main stage, IFB snake through the back of the crowd, singing and making merry, leading the curious to a wooded path for an impromptu gig. You either join in with something like this or let life pass you by. Hand us a kazoo please."

Me again: Complimentary Kazoos at JoyfiendFest.