Julien Bourgeois: Swedish Music Landscape: A Photo Book About Indie Pop Music in Sweden

Julien Bourgeois

Swedish Music Landscape: A Photo Book About Indie Pop Music in Sweden

Published by (Editions Microculture)

Jul 03, 2012 Issue #41 - Yeasayer By Frank Valish

The fact that Sweden has a particularly fertile indie pop community is no secret. For much of the 2000s, this music has been thriving internationally. But the way that French photographer Julien Bourgeois handles his examination of the “scene” is uniquely revealing. Bourgois starts by asking musicians, including Loney Dear, First Aid Kit, Nicolai Dunger, and Peter Bjorn & John to show him a place that inspires their work—a landscape, a home, a street, etc. And they take pictures there, thus exposing some of the soul of the artists in a visual context separate from their music, while at the same time painting a portrait of a country. Bourgeois pairs his pictures with anecdotes of his time with the artists and explanation of the place chosen, but it is the photographs that steal the show. Jens Lekman, exploring the landscape of his old family home, and Frida Hyvönen, simply angelic, clad in furry coat and hat in the snow-covered countryside, are exceptionally stunning. Short biographies and discographies of the artists included round out the book, but it’s the pictures and the unassuming anecdotes that make Swedish Music Landscape remarkable. (www.microcultures.fr/swedishmusic/)

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