The Tales and Details of Hello Saferide

Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
Album: More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide
For Fans Of: Belle and Sebastian, The Concretes, Camera Obscura

Swedish chanteuse Annika Norlin—the wordsmith and vocalist behind adorable indie-pop act Hello Saferide—named her newest album More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide, a nod to her literary bent. Like a musical incarnation of O. Henry, Norlin infuses her lyrics with winsome wit and twisted endings, populating the songs with loveable characters ensnared in curious daily concerns. She cultivated her detailed lyricism during years spent as an arts journalist frustrated with musicians’ vague explanations of their work. Here, Norlin reports on the stories behind Short Stories’ choicest songs.

On “Overall,” a dialogue between two parents whose child has grown up to be a Nazi
“I was thinking what the worst thing that could happen would be. At first, I thought it would be getting stuck in a pool with the roof above you slowly closing, but then I changed my mind to raising a child and the kid growing up to hate other people.”

On “Sancho Panza,” a report from Don Quixote’s lackey on sidekick-spurred creativity
“I always meet all of these really nice young girls who tend to come in twos. Almost always, one of them is really pretty and talks a lot (and hits on the boys in my band), and their friend is often more quiet and looks kind of reluctant, like ‘I know I don't stand a chance against her’ or something. I was shy when I was younger, so I always relate to those girls. This is me trying to tell them: Store those feelings, that’s what makes for pop songs, paintings and books.”

On “I Wonder Who Is Like This One,” a meditation on how “people are like songs”
“For some reason, I didn’t like any of my best friends the first time I met them, and I’ve grown to realize it’s the same way with my favorite songs and records—like The National’s Boxer, which is one of my favorites and I just thought it was incredibly boring the first five listens or so.”

Listen to Hello Saferide's "Sancho Panza" from More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide: