Profile: Detektivbyrån
Name: Detektivbyrån
From: Göteborg, Sweden
Sounds like: Playful instrumental music driven by accordians, toy organs and other unique homemade instruments
Listen: E18
Discography:
2006 – Hemvägen EP (Denarkia)
Links:
www.detektivbyran.net
www.myspace.com/detektivbyran
It's very rare to hear new music that's truly unique, so of course I was instantly impressed when I first heard Detektivbyrån. Not only do they rely heavily on underutilized instruments such as accordians and concertinas, they also mix it up by incorporating electronic elements and other sounds never heard before. I think my wife summed it up best when she called their music "vivid" - it's the kind of stuff that's easy to imagine as the soundtrack to fantastic mental adventures. Or maybe even as a film soundtrack. It's incredibly evocative, not to mention genre defying. It took awhile for all three members to sit down and go over these questions, but for a band this good, the wait was worth it.
Who are you and where are you from? How did the band get together?
We are Detektivbyrån, a trio from Wermland, Sweden, now located in Gothenburg. We have known eachother for a long time, we all grew up in the same city, played in the same bandy team (on ice, we're not really sure if that's the English name for this sport!?).
We got this idea, or obsession if you like, we wanted to create something that we'd never done before, musically that is.
What makes Detetikbyrån special? Why should anyone care about you?
One of us, Martin, is like that MacGuyver figure. He builds new instruments that we use/abuse. Our sound is built by the combination of these new creations and old traditional "pearls" like accordion, glockenspiel (we don't like this German word, is there a nice English word for it?), musicbox and scissors.
Our music is the soundtrack to the life you actually want to live.
Where do you get inspiration from?
Jon: The wild life and the sea. Wolves
Martin: The Danish book "Märk Världen" by Tor Nørretranders. Fear of death. (Joy of life!?)
Anders: Erlend Loe
What do you do when not playing music? What do you think you'd be doing with your life if you didn't have music?
Jon: Hunting/Hunting
Martin: Producing music/ Cooking nice dinners and building stuff.
Anders: Hitchiking and playing pinball (Swedish word for "pinball" is flipper, like that crazy dolphin of yours) / Travel the world
What's your favorite food?
Jon: Stekt fläsk med löksås och kokt potatis. I don't know what that dish is called in English. Sorry. But I like Kebab too and I guess that is an international word.
Martin: Lasagne with 65% cheese, 30% pasta and 5% tomato sauce
Anders: Green stuff
Who would win in a fight: Det Gamla Landet or Detetikbyrån?
We don't know what they look like, haven't met them. So?
Lastly, what's the future look like for you guys? What do you have planned?
We will sew nice clothes to wear on stage. Yellow spraypainted old shoes is one of the ideas. We'll keep on promoting our new release, "Hemvägen EP". Play live. Next spring/summer we'll tour Sweden and we are actually talking about a US tour next autumn. Check out www.detektivbyran.net for news and updates. On the site, you also can get a hold of the "Hemvägen EP".