Smile: Phantom island

Joakim Åhlund and Björn Yttling last made a record together 8 years ago. Now they"'re back to ride the hype with a new collection of songs they"'ve named Phantom Island. ""Phantom Islands are mythical things that surface and appear in front of weary seafarers or castaways, only to disappear again later in a shroud of mystery never to be found again. We kind of felt that this music project has a lot of similarities with that"", explains Björn. ""Also, when we found some recordings and songs we had done together years ago, we felt like we had salvaged a sunken treasure or something"" says Joakim. Both Joakim & Björn are well known and respected songwriters and producers in their own right as well as members of other successful bands and projects. Björn is a member of Peter, Bjorn and John and has produced and written for Lykke Li, Primal Scream and Chrissie Hynde just to name a few. Joakim is a member of legendary Swedish outfits Teddybears and Caesars and has worked as a songwriter and producer with Robyn, Charli XCX, Giorgio Moroder etc. This record is the second full length from their shared love project Smile, and as the band members themselves explain, encompasses ""as many as possible of all our cherished musical expressions and styles"". The record features guest appearances from Robyn on ""Call My Name"", and Andrew Innes from Primal Scream among others. The music has echoes of motorik krautrock beats, analogue synths, tape echoes, Ennio Morricone-style cinematic soundscapes, but always with a very strong melodic sense. A very typical Swedish style of melancholy also feels present in many of the tracks, and even a hint of moody Black Devil Disco-style vocoder-Disco in the song ""Dressed For Success"".