Let Me Introduce My Friends

Swedish pop collective I'm From Barcelona's debut album, Let Me Introduce My Friends, released in the US on Mute. Named after Fawlty Towers' Manuel (he's from Barcelona, si?), and formed in Jonkoping, Sweden by Emanuel Lundgren, I'm From Barcelona are 29 (count em!) friends who gathered together and, fuelled with the energy that only a sunny summer holiday can bring, created an album of explosively happy pop songs. Emanuel's flat transformed into a factory where band members embraced a do-it-yourself ethic, coming and going loaded with banjos, accordions and kazoos and eventually releasing a DIY EP. First single, "We're From Barcelona", has a chorus it's impossible not to sing along with and a fantastic video. Elsewhere on the album is a true pop spirit; melodies are essayed by an infectious playfulness and on songs like "Treehouse" and "Chicken Pox", Emanuel has given tribute to the energy of children, looking for the kinds of magical juxtapositions we normally only have time for in childhood. Altogether now, "I’m gonna sing a song with all my friends!"