Touring brings out the best from The Cardigans
By Chris Page
Get Out
August 12, 2004

It’s been eight years since Swedish band The Cardigans scored a U.S. hit with “Lovefool,” an infectious pop gem that haunted radio for an entire summer. Since then, the band has flirted with more American fame (1998’s “My Favourite Game” found the group ditching its softer side for a little more grit), lost it, and gone on to embrace the less fickle foreign market.

Earlier this year, the group’s fifth album, “Long Gone Before Daylight,” was released in the States with absolutely no fanfare, on the minor Koch Records label. It’s a shame, too, because “Long Gone ...” finds The Cardigans maturing beautifully, with rich, tender instrumental work melting against the now warm sound of vocalist Nina Persson (who, on past albums, sounded like she was singing into a tin can).

The band played a small North American tour of club dates earlier this year and, just as it was to wrap up, signed on to play with Liz Phair on her “Chicks with Attitude” tour.

Get Out spoke to Persson about The Cardigans’ new sound, new tour and early history:

Get Out: The new album sounds so warm. In the past, your albums were mixed so mid-range-y — almost retro-sounding. But now even your vocals sound more wide-open ... What happened?

Persson: You know, things have happened in the past years, I’m older, things have happened. When I joined this band, I wasn’t interested in singing. I thought I just got the position because I was their friend. But 12 years now, I’ve sort of learned (how to sing) along the way. After two years I learned vibrato ... (Laughs.)

GO: What do you think when you hear yourself on those earlier records?

Persson: I think it’s really sweet. I feel like it’s a whole other person now, because it’s so different from what I do now. But it sounds very brave.

GO: How did you get attached to the Liz Phair tour? And what do you think of what she’s done with her career?

Persson: I don’t really know! I’m not really familiar with her history as an artist. I’m not sure we would be able to tour on this album any more if we hadn’t (done this tour).

GO: It seems like you and Liz Phair are working on different career trajectories. You started off with a big pop hit and then gradually started doing more of what you as a band wanted to do on indie labels. And she’s gone from introspective indie darling to big-budget pop girl.

Persson: She’s probably just sick of not making money. She’s got her kid to support. I have no problem with making these decisions. To me, it’s all about what the music wants.

GO: In your live show nowadays you don’t do a lot of your older material. I imagine people would die if you didn’t play “Lovefool.”

Persson: You see, they don’t. Sometimes we’ve been like, oh, we’ve got to do it for the crowd, but people just don’t seem to care. They seem to be excited about the new stuff. But we do “Erase/Rewind” and “My Favourite Game,” some of those.

GO: What should we expect from the live show?

Persson: There are a lot of softer songs, acoustic, organic songs, rather than danceable songs. It’s good, it’s fun. We’ve done this tour for so long, we’re really tight now. It’s like a rock show now. I think we’re better than we used to be. This music really brings out the best in us.