Saturday 26 January 2013

Caviare Days - "The Awakening" EP

Maja and Lina Westin of Caviare Days - Photo by Johannes Helje
“The Chauffeur, a Russian Czar of the period of Ivan the Terrible, was a self-appointed guide, and the resplendent names – Cannes, Nice, Monte Carlo – began to glow through their torpid camouflage, whispering of old kings come here to dine or die, of rajahs tossing Buddha’s eyes to English ballerinas, of Russian princes turning the weeks into Baltic twilights in the lost caviare days”
- F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night (1934)

Caviare Days consists of Swedish sisters Lina and Maja Westin, drummer Timmy Grim Fredriksson, guitarist Boris Grubesic and Marcus Arborelius on keyboards. The band had been recommended to me by various friends in Sweden and even by certain members of The Soundtrack of Our Lives, so I got in touch with the band. Lina Westin, kindly explained: "What connects Caviare Days to TSOOL is that we did our very first gigs ever as supporting act for them in late 2010, on their "Communion" tour. After that we have been in contact, seeing each regularly. We played at Ebbot's Club in Särö (Club Revolution No. 9), it's such an amazing setting, and then an additional gig in Varberg at his friend's Club, it was so much fun. Last, but not least, we did the support show on their "Communion" gig at the Södra Teatern in Stockholm on December 21st as well as joining the choir on their last ever gig on December 22nd."

November last year saw the release of the excellent "The Awakening" EP, a fantastic four song fix that melds the sisters' dreamy harmonies with some perfectly crafted danceable Psychedelic-tinged pop. However, there's a nice edge to their sound, and the songs, although melodic and catchy, have a depth that conjures up their pals Soundtrack of Our Lives on occasion. The EP starts with the title track which is a powerful, slightly dark number, with it's backwards phased guitar that wouldn't be out of place on the "Nuggets" Sixties garage rock compilation. Next is my favourite, "The Lucky Ones", a powerful track with some excellent drumming that brings to mind The Duke Spirit. Third song "You'll Qualify" starts off with a raw bass rumble and the sister's vocals float beautifully over the top and there's an inspired guitar break half way through. "When The Light Is Breaking" starts off with simple yet effective bass and acoustic riffs with the sister's beautiful harmonies. There are Baroque echoes of Goldfrapp's superb "Seventh Tree" album, when they went through their Pagan Psych-Folk phase. Suddenly the song shifts up a gear and builds to an urgent disco beat with strumming acoustic guitars, all pierced by a nice psychedelic guitar line. It's one of those perfect EPs, where the four songs really complement each other, yet show a depth and variety of material that promises there will much more great music to come from the band  in the future.

Although the band's debut album "Caviare Days" has been out in Sweden since last May, it's not due for a UK release until late Spring this year. The album was produced by Mats Björke of Mando Diao and Jorge Elbrecht of New York based Violens and it was mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios. We'll keep you updated as soon as a UK release date is fixed, and hopefully Caviare Days will play some shows over here to promote it. If you can't wait that long to get hold of a copy, and you've played "The Awakening" EP to death, then you can order the album now on import from Bengans in Sweden, it's available on CD or Vinyl.

2012 was a busy year for Caviare Days, it saw the band collaborating with the fashion brand GANT and the New York based designer Michael Bastian, to create the soundtrack for their mod inspired Fall 2012 collection. Continuing with the fashion theme, Caviare Days also did some modeling/playlist-making for fashion brand Monki.

Here's a great video to "The Lucky Ones" from "The Awakening" E.P. The video is the result of the friendship between Caviare Days and the prominent American menswear designer Michael Bastian, who needed a song to go with his preppy Mod collection for the GANT fall/winter 2012 collection.



Photos by Johannes Helje. With many thanks to Lina Westin.

For more information on the band and up-to-date news please check the Caviare Days web-site.

You can hear a track from "The Awakening EP" on our brand new Retrosonic Podcast Episode 6:

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