The previous Fort Not record was called Depressed for Success. The new one is You On Repeat. Are things looking up for these Swedes? There is still plenty of melancholy here, but this LP, out now on Meritorio, also lets some sunlight in. Recorded during a hot summer weekend in a west coast barn in Sweden, you can actually hear that warmth seep into the songs.
You On Repeat moves easily between clean-sounding alt-pop, classic ’90s indie rock, slacker garage pop, and even a touch of alt-country. Still Do Drugs stands out early with obvious hit potential. The chorus carries a clear trace of The Lemonheads, and the hook “Do you still do drugs?” lands with a bittersweet sting considering everything surrounding Evan Dando these days.
But I digress. There are twelve songs here, and each spin seems to reshuffle your favorites. Like their earlier work, variation is key. Midway through, Fort Not drop the almost percussion-free lullaby Dream, only to follow it with My Mind Is Off, built on a rudimentary rock riff that slowly tightens the screws. Then the slacker gem Gymnast rolls in and lifts the whole sequence another notch. By that point, realizing there are still five songs left feels like a small victory. Right now, Heaven To Me is the one I keep coming back to.
Fort Not is Robert Carlsson and Fredrik Söderström, joined here by Philip Gates, David Hansson, and Joakim Björnberg.