Surrounded

Formed back in 2000 through a one-year experimental journey in a remotely located studio in the forested south, Sweden’s SURROUNDED since then has continued to embrace and nurture their combination of dense instrumentation, orchestral arrangements and melodic, crafted compositions.

Initially mainly influenced by “Meddle”-era Pink Floyd and Simon&Garfunkel, gradually contemporary artists like The Flaming Lips and Built to Spill started having a growing impact on SURROUNDED’s emerging collection of songs, embodying a colourful spectrum within a soundscape almost overflowing with mellotrons, strings, samples and layers of hushed electric guitars.
When contemplating different tracks on the band’s critically acclaimed debut SAFETY IN NUMBERS, released by Deep Elm in late 2003, you may unintentionally find yourself wrapped in either ethereal bliss, fragile beauty or even a noisy, fuzzed-out melancholy. The songs, simultaneously haunting and sedating, usually expand in dreamy bursts instead of hurrying to get to the next catchy chorus while a deep sadness, hard to grasp or define, temporarily gets a fresh shine on its face by a subtle twinkle-of-the-eye optimism and a persevering hypnotic intensity. Frontman Mårten Rydell’s lyrics, often complex and elaborately woven song poems, are filled with fragmental unusual metaphors and a rich imagery and his understated yet urgent vocals show no immediate desire to deliver a direct and distinct message. Reminiscent of Elliott Smith, Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous or Jeff Tweedy of Wilco there is nevertheless always some kind of context and a darker domain hiding beyond the veil of innocence and between twisted lines of black humour, where themes and explorations of the human condition in the modern-day external illusory world are uncomfortably present.

THE NAUTILUS YEARS is the awaited and triumphant return from this Swedish four-piece.
Following up “Safety in Numbers” by touring Europe four times during 2004/2005, SURROUNDED soon afterwards re-entered the creative stage of dissecting and evaluating new material. Recorded in numerous sessions for over one and a half years the time and care taken is now strikingly telling when you’re witnessing the brilliance of the final result in retrospect.

Resting securely on the foundation and the concept of the debut, this time SURROUNDED have taken their adventurous songcraft one extra step further into the lush world of vintage technicolor and unpolished high-fidelity. From the charming, bittersweet “Safe Tomorrow Sun” to the breath-taking ten-minute epic “Human Pelagic”, THE NAUTILUS YEARS is a moody, shimmering soundtrack-to-life album you succeedingly will get to know and discover through subsequent visits and travels.