Don't scoff - but not everything that comes out of Sweden is boring - whatever The Stranglers may have said.
While still emerging, blinking, into the arresting glare of pop fame, The Cardigans already have three notches on their CD gun-belts. For this highly approachable bunch of musicians from Volvo-land the future looks so bright, they gotta wear shades . . .
Their heads may be up in the charts somewhere, but after three years of touring, interviews and promotion, the five-piece Cardigans (aged 23 to 25) remain well-adjusted enough to know that stardom is only a warped version of reality.
'We haven't spent much time at home since September,' said pianist and guitarist Lars-Olof Johansson. 'We've just played in Australia, we have quick promotional stops in Hong Kong and Taiwan, then we're heading back to Sweden. It only hits you when you're at home again and you realise where you've been and what you've done.
'Although we've been doing this for years it all seems to have happened so quickly,' chipped in Peter Svensson, guitarist, pianist and the band's composer.
'True,' added towering bassist Magnus Sveningsson. 'It hits you when you see yourself in the papers and think: 'Yes, I was in Hong Kong for 10 hours!' ' The Cardigans' output is characterised by trippy, melodic, expertly crafted ditties recalling the 60s, and with lyrics from Sveningsson and vocalist Nina Persson carrying a barbed sense of humour usually overlooked by critics who dismiss the outfit as 'feel-good'.
