Those Dancing Days - Daydreams & Nightmares
All-female bands are gaining something of a popularity in recent years, what with the rise to fame of the likes of Warpaint, CocoRosie and The Pipettes. But the world of indie pop has long been a male-dominated affair - at least, where the instrumentation is concerned anyway. But enough gender politics; their debut in 2008 was a pretty limited success for the Swedish group, yet a 2 million-strong listening on last.fm gives an indication to a slight cult status amongst the girls. Daydreams & Nightmares is from the get-go an innocently poppy assault; harsh synths and tribal drums supporting vocalist Linnea Jönsson's husky proclamations on 'Reaching Forward' that drift slightly astray in the middle for a bit of self-reverential tension that doesn't really work with the lyrics ("there is so much more to life than this" indeed). A nice hook saves the track though, and another presents itself in 'I'll Be Yours', a noticable Joy Division influence wi...