How is it fair that in addition to preternatural good looks and universal health care, the Swedish population is also blessed with an uncanny ability to write great pop music? I’m not sure myself, but I mean come on, there’s no denying the unlimited hooks and sugary singalongs crammed throughout the back catalogs of any of these extraordinary Swedes: I’m From Barcelona, Jens Lekman, Peter Bjorn and John, The Shout Out Louds, The Cardigans, ummm, ABBA?

And though it smacks of sonic profiling, we just had a hunch that Marching Band could up the depleted stores of pop serum in EF headquarters once we realized they were from Sweden. And deliver they did. The Linköping-based duo of Erik Sunbring and Jacob Lind delivered their gorgeous new album Spark Large (U&L Records) directly to our inbox earlier this week, and the timing couldn’t have been better; you see, on Monday the band visited Nic Harcourt on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” and played an in-studio set there as well. So between that and Spark Large, there’s been plenty of pop to go around these days.

It seems Harcourt isn’t the only one who’s taken notice of Marching Band either; the group will be featured on the upcoming hot-shit soundtrack to Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, while Rolling Stone also spilled a tiny bit of ink about them on its New Music blog. But hey, listen for yourself. “Gorgeous Behavior” bounces along with back-and-forth harmonies and a lilting acoustic feel reminiscent of Magnetic Fields. If there were such a thing as a perfect “song-that-bridges-the-vibe-of-late-summer-to-that-of-early-autumn”, this would be it. “Makeup Artist” is equally playful, co-opting a sort of dance groove in a way that almost nods to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” (no, I’m not Rick-Rolling you here) but in a really winning manner. Trust me, it works, check them out (as well as their “Eclectic” performance) below.

Listen:
“Gorgeous Behavior”
“Makeup Artist”

Visit Marching Band on MySpace.

*above photo by David Holmström