Swede Dreams

The table is raucous. Ghassemi, whose new single ‘Saturate’ is out soon, is describing how he did his remix of Icona Pop’s ‘Emergency’ – “I took five boxes of Snus and gallons of coffee into the studio – I couldn’t sleep for a week but it got the job done.” Snus are the small, extremely strong pouches of tobacco that Scandinavians place in their mouths. Osmo lives with Tobtok and describes how they have to take turns in having their monitors turned on. His best-known track is probably the remix (with Ghassemi) of We Are Legends’ soul-pop number ‘In Too Deep’, but watch out for his ‘Leparc’ single and a forth-coming remix of Carl Louis’ ‘Telescope’. Skogsrå, meanwhile, boasts a pre-eminent musicality. He briefly renamed himself Heir and sings on Nelson’s ‘Found Your Love’. His music has the most in common with older Scandi-disco artists such as Todd Terje with tunes such as ‘Now You See Me’ and his outrageous remix of Vulfpeck’s ‘Funky Duck’.

None of the group, however, see themselves as especially indebted to previous generations of Scandinavian dance talent. Oliver says the first Todd Terje tune he heard was ‘Inspector Norse’ (2012) while Tobtok adds, when asked about Adam Beyer, Swedish House Mafia and uber-pop producer Max Martin, “I wasn’t interested in them; I never realised until very recently that Sweden’s played an important role in electronic music.”

Apart from Justice and Chic, the only music Nelson and Tobtok credit with having direct influence on their sound is Scottish producer Grum’s 2010 debut album ‘Heartbeats’. “That opened the door to the electronic world for me,” says Nelson. “Grum has a very special sound, proper nu-disco.”

The other thing that drives them all, of course, is Uppsala itself, whose mainstream, student-led nightlife forces them to explore their own resources. “I’ve held parties in Uppsala where we tried to do more our style of music but it hasn’t gone down that well,” says Tobtok.

“You get stuck at home producing music instead,” laughs Osmo. It’s 1.45 AM at Palermo, a packed bar-cum-pizza place which is where young Uppsalans finish their nights. Everyone’s showing signs of boozy wear and tear, but in an affable way. The talk ranges from death metal to movies (Nelson repeatedly refers to a film called ‘Apocalyptic Now’) then turns to the way the Uppsala sound has a pop edge, giving it crossover potential.

“We’ve always done our thing but we’re lucky in that the music we do is becoming more popular,” says Tobtok. “I don’t mind pop at all,” Oliver Nelson continues, beer in hand, a smile on his face. “I don’t want to be labelled as mainstream but my goal in music is to lean towards a different sound than anyone else’s. When I’m doing new tracks I’m inspired by everything from sixties music to mainstream EDM. That’s the key to making something special, just taking elements. If you can pull that off, it’s the key to success.”

He has a glint in his eye. It may be the beer. It may be the lights. But it may be the twinkle of future promise. The Uppsala crew have 2016 in their sights.

Oliver Nelson feat Heir 'Found Your Love' is out March 7