I was very lucky last night to have the chance to see the very ace Swedish pop group The Sounds play live in London. Unlike previous Swedish gigs I've been to in the UK (eg. Melody Club and The Ark) where there was a tiny crowd, mostly of Swedes, The Sounds managed to pack out the fairly large Islington Academy and the only Swedish accent I heard was from Maja Ivarsson herself! I can't remember when I last saw a band who were so precisely on the verge of becoming huge. This week they finally released their latest album, Dying To Say This To You, in the UK and it was right at the front of Fopp (ace music shop), and they had a 2-page feature in NME. Their star is rising and I hope it will continue to do so - we really do need more Swedes in the UK charts right now. My copy of the CD, ordered cheaply from Sweden, arrived by chance on Monday and of course I have been listening to it ever since, to make sure I knew all the songs for the gig. There were a few I already knew and loved (Painted By Numbers and Tony The Beat particularly) but it was this track which stood out to me as every time it came on my mp3 player in a public place I wound up embarrassing myself by singing or dancing along. It will already be familiar to some as it was released as a single in the USA and Sweden.