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Stream the Sounds’ Propulsive Album ‘Weekend’

the sounds, weekend, album

The Sounds had a simple plan of attack for their fifth album, the upcoming Weekend. Frontwoman Maja Ivarsson tells SPIN that she and her bandmates wanted to “capture what we do best — which is putting on a great live show.” The Swedish dance-rock unit entered their home country’s famous Svenska Grammafon Studion earlier this year with producer Alex Newport (Bloc Party, Death Cab for Cutie, the Mars Volta) and recorded the follow-up to 2011’s Something to Die For over the course of seven weeks, with another month set aside for mixing.

On October 29, Arnioki Records/INgrooves will unleash Weekend, an 11-track full-length that honors the punky grooves of the Sounds’ signature, uh, sound (see “Shake Shake Shake” and “Take It the Wrong Way”), while delving into new territory (check out the slow-burning title track and the acoustic-infused “Great Day”). “When we put on a show, we want people to feel like they do on… the weekend,” Ivarsson says, hence the album’s title. “We want them to have a good time, to enjoy themselves, regardless of what day of the week they see our show.”

To catch the Sounds on the road, find a full list of tour dates on the band’s Facebook. For now, though, stream all of Weekend right here at SPIN, days before its official release. And scroll further to read more of Ivarsson’s thoughts on the record.

We always had a hard time coming up with great titles for records, it’s never been a priority. For us, it was always about the music rather than the name of the record. The music should speak for itself. The song ‘Weekend’ was one of the first songs that we wrote for the new album. We all felt it was one of those songs that was going to stand out. We thought it was catchy, had a great hook, and had the potential to be a great single for us. Our aim for the album was about trying to capture what we do best — which is putting on a great live show. When it was time for us to name the album we all thought that ‘Weekend’ really suited. The lyrics are ‘I live for the weekend,’ and we think that that is something that most people can relate to; and our live shows have always been about making people have a good time. When we put on a show, we want people to feel like they do on a Saturday, or the weekend. We want them to have a good time, to enjoy themselves, regardless of what day of the week they see our show.

Since Something to Die For, the guys in the band started to write lots of new material and new songs. That was pretty much immediately after the last tour. I did a TV show back home in Sweden, that was called Sa Mycket Battre, which means ‘So Much Better.’ It was about interpreting other well-know Swedish artists’ songs. It was a great adventure, and was a great challenge. It was really what I needed after about fifteen years of touring. When we all hooked back up in the studio earlier this year, we spent seven weeks recording the new record and another month mixing. Now it’s finally going to be released. We’re so proud of it, and we’re pretty sure people will like it as much as we do.