Surrounded are an alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

/space rock

Space rock

Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...

 band from Vaxjo

Växjö

Växjö is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden with 64 200 inhabitants in 2010. It is the administrative, cultural and industrial centre of Kronoberg County. Furthermore it is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Växjö. It has a population of about 64 200, out of a...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, who have been described as "Sweden's answer to the Flaming Lips".

Biography

The band was formed in 2000 by Marten Rydell (vocals, guitar) and Marcus Knutsson (guitar), with Emil Petersson (keyboards, sampling), Fredrik Solfors (drums), and Jesper Petersson (bass) soon added to the lineup. With influences ranging from Meddle-era Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...

, The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...

, and Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

, the band were included on The Emo Diaries, Vol. 9, before their debut album, Safety in Numbers, was released in 2003 by Deep Elm Records

Deep Elm Records

Deep Elm Records is an independent record label putting out albums by bands such as The Appleseed Cast, Brandtson, The White Octave, and Planes Mistaken for Stars...

.

A second album, The Nautilus Years, was issued in 2007, the band now signed to large indie label One Little Indian, and Rydell and Knutson now joined by Tom Malmros (bass), Johannes Linder (drums) and Erik Gustafson (keyboards). The album was recorded in a summerhouse in a forest in southern Sweden, and received positive critical reviews, with Drowned in Sound

Drowned in Sound

DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...

calling it "a work of such understated, almost casual beauty that it would be a crime for it to go unnoticed". Crawdaddy!

Crawdaddy!

Crawdaddy! was the first U.S. magazine of rock and roll music criticism. Created in 1966 by college student Paul Williams in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music, Crawdaddy! was self-described as "the first magazine to take rock and roll...

said of the album "this stuff is so perfectly engineered to be pleasurable it’s hard to find any specific weak points".

The band's style has been described as "a rare hybrid of shoegazing

Shoegazing

Shoegazing is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted there until the mid 1990s, with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991...

 and Americana

Americana (music)

Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...

". Comparisons have been made with several bands including The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...

, Doves, and Super Furry Animals

Super Furry Animals

Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...

.

Discography

• Safety in Numbers (2003) Deep Elm
  Deep Elm Records
  Deep Elm Records is an independent record label putting out albums by bands such as The Appleseed Cast, Brandtson, The White Octave, and Planes Mistaken for Stars...
  
  
• The Nautilus Years (2007) Make My Day/(2008) One Little Indian
• Oppenheimer and Woodstock (2010)