Track-by-track: The Mary Onettes Talk Us Through Their New Album

Some artists refuse to discuss their art, feeling that it should speak for itself and require no dissection, we hate those artists.

Other artists never stop talking about useless information which carries as much weight as Angelina Jolie, we dislike these too.

Somewhere in the middle is the likes of The Mary Onettes, willing to discuss their trade, illuminate their process, but not feel compelled to explain to us how the fair-trade coffee they've switched to informs their artistic temperament: we like these artists.

The Swedish dream-pop band took some time out from their (presumably) busy schedule to shine a little light on the making of their recently released album Puzzles. Is it just us, or would 'Puzzles' not be a great name for a bar. "Why is it called 'Puzzles'?" people would ask, and then they'd think "ahh, that must be the puzzle!". On which note we'll hand over to Phillip Ekström from TMO to explain track by track, their new album.

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For a while we didn't think the album could ever be finished! It was a never-ending project for a while. We're very happy about it and really think it's great. It's a perfect extension of our début album. More organic just like we wanted! Filled with epic and orchestral elements just like we wanted. But yet a typical TMO album!

It's like a little book to me filled with reflections of my last year, and I'm glad I managed to finish it. Enjoy! 

'Puzzles'

I remember writing it late at night in my apartment. One of these songs that wasn't meant for Mary Onettes, I just wrote it as an instrumental song, which I often do. 

I had some problems finding the right chorus for it. So I had to do a few different versions, and after a while I got so tired of it that I decided to leave it be. 

But I picked It up again later and we picked the first version. Which is almost always the best one.

'Dare'

This song was a really strange song from the beginning. A bit awkward actually. It was just a snippet with electronic weird drums and some strange keyboards. But later it grew into one of my favourites. When we put real drums and guitars on it It suddenly became a real song. And I love the way the melody just goes up and down all the time.  

'Once I Was Pretty'

This one I wrote in the end of the recording process. So it's kind of a new one still.

It reminds me a bit of Abba, like a new wave Abba song. I really like this one and the vocals has a young vibe to it I think. 

It's a blast to play it live. Well we haven' t really played it live yet but It's a fun one when we're rehearsing.

'Cry For Love'

This one is the latest song I wrote for the album. I just felt that I had to write a song about my relation to my girlfriend. Doesn't feels like a song we will pick up for live performances. But it's a good one! 

'Disappearance Of My Youth'

This song is dedicated to my girlfriends mother who passed away last year. It's a personal favourite. And I have really liked all along. I feel that this piano has a soul of it's very own. 

It's a very difficult song to play for us since I'm the one who played almost everything on the recording. But we're working on it and I think we will manage to play it sooner or later. 

'God Knows I Had Plans'

This one was only meant as a b-side on the Dare EP. But It became a worthy candidate for the album after a while. And the song made it through the thinning. 

And It's such a good live song which we really enjoy playing. 

'Symmetry'

An oldie in this collection of songs. The first one I wrote for this album I think. 

But somewhere on the way we decided to put it aside. I started to almost hate this song. But the others really liked It and they persuaded me to pick it up again. So we did another recording of it. It was the 4th version of it I think. And as I said about Puzzles it's always better to go back to the first version. And so we did. 

And today I really like it! 

'Century'

Also this one is an oldie. It's about me and Henrik's Grandmother. About how it feels to live on without her now. Simple as that!

This one reminds a bit of Tom Waits Downtown Train. A really thick song. But a nice song to play live. There a lot energy to it when we play it live, even though It's a ballad. 

'Bricks'

I remember when I was recording this song, I had the window open and the volume was pretty high. After a while a man shows up and says to me "this is a really good song" nothing more and just walks away. He was also a bit older, maybe he could connect to the song or something. A nice little memory. 

This one is also one of my favourites!

Also one the first songs I wrote for the album. The first version of this one was great!! But I lost it among many others when my hard drive got stolen and my back-up disc crashed.

The Mary Onettes 'Puzzles' from Labrador Records on Vimeo.

Main Photo: Henrik Mårtensson