While high-profile pop bands from Sweden were busily grabbing press attention, their countryman Kristoffer Ragnstam was working under the radar screen, making music that refused to fit the Scandinavian stereotype.

His sound was different – too different to ignore. Musicians took note, not only in his country but in Germany and Japan. The media responded too, going overboard with effusions that, at the request of this somewhat self-effacing artist, we won’t repeat here.

It’s strange, when you think about it, because Kristoffer didn’t play that many gigs. In fact, he didn’t even play any instruments, other than drums, and yet managed to cut a solo demo that won him his first record deal. Soft-spoken, with a wry sense of humor, he thrived primarily in recording studios, where he apprenticed to staff engineers on sessions and then applied their lessons to his own projects, working after-hours until crashing on the nearest couch.

On his U.S. debut, Sweet Bills, Kristoffer bundles the results into one of the most idiosyncratic packages heard since the advent of Beck. Each track veers unpredictably to the next: The wall-of-sound pop of “Lonely Lane,” broadcast by roaring guitars and thundering drums, gives way to the simmering funk of “Doctor, Give the World a Smile.” Mellow horns and backward guitar samples on “Sweet Bills” explode into a complex groove that nudges surreal lyrics – “My girl wants to be an astronaut/My boss wants to be a talent scout” – through “Born as a Lion.”

You can also sense a chronology to Sweet Bills. Echoes of sixties garage rock permeate “Never Get Used to You,” an eighties electronic dance hook slices through “Man Overboard,” and on “Keila” the music is timeless and the message playfully twisted: “I’ve been waiting for you to call the last seven years,” Kristoffer intones. “You see, honey, we’ve got a problem …”

Sweet Bills is, Kristoffer insists, a project he can introduce without hesitation into the unsuspecting American market. “It’s very intimate – naked, even. I’m not trying to be smart or anything. I’m just doing what comes naturally. Sweet Bills is one hundred percent me.”

One hundred percent Kristoffer: As the world will soon discover, music doesn’t get any hotter than that.

Here's what some people have been saying:

"Think an eclectic blend of Beck, Finley Quay, Roxy Music, Supergrass, but none of these references does it any justice. You just need to listen for yourself to decide."

-Bruce Warren @ WXPN

"On his U.S. debut, Sweet Bills, Kristoffer bundles the results into one of the most idiosyncratic packages heard since the advent of Beck...one hundred percent Kristoffer: as the world will soon discover, music doesn't get any hotter than that."

-Filter Magazine

"Sweet Bills is a great mix of radio worthy rockers, subtle love songs, and spacey psych-rock. Every song on the album is wonderfully catchy, whether fronted by Ragnstam's rockstar voice or a clever falsetto-- both of which are remarkably appealing."

-www.iguessimfloating.com

Kristoffer Ragnstam is currently on tour in the US:

11-8- Triple Door- Seattle, WA
11-9- Mojito's Café- San Francisco, CA
11-10- Monterey Live- Monterey, CA
11-11- Rocks- Santa Barbara, CA
11-13- Hotel Café- Los Angeles, CA
11-15- Knitting Factory Tap Bar- New York, NY
11-17- World Café Live- Philadelphia, PA
11-18- Fire Station 8- Gaithersburg, MD

For the latest information and tour dates, go to the official Kristoffer Ragnstam website and his myspace page.

Press: bluehammock music